Liminal Lacuna

by Cyndi

Bowser discovers he has a dangerous heart condition that leads to heart attacks, and Junior makes an unlikely friend. This is a story about fatherhood and coming of age. (Prequel to Vicessitude)

3. Third

Music credit:

"Interstellar" OST by Hans Zimmer (piano), I'm just pretending Ludwig did it.

.o

.o

It was the best tenth hatch-day party a kid like Junior could hope for.

He swore to never forget coming downstairs to all his siblings waiting for him or the utter mayhem that followed.

Bowser paid Serrated, Junior's favorite hugely-famous metal band, to throw a private concert at the castle. They set up out back on the down-low while Junior opened his gifts.

Everybody on staff in the castle was invited to the show. Only Neil didn't come— he had to do an emergency surgery in Koopa City.

Blue, the lead singer, screamed and growled into the mic. He was a fat, broad-shouldered blue-shelled Koopa Paratroopa who decorated his winged shell with white serrated bolts and wore shoulder pads covered in more bolts. His neon blue hair stuck up off his head in styled spikes pointing in all directions. All but one, which swished whenever he head banged.

Crimson was tall and skinny, like Ludwig, but with a shorter tail. His blood red shell also had serrated bolts, though they were black, and he wore his hair in a tall, feathery red Mohawk. He wailed on a guitar shaped like two circular saws with a long neck. Every single chord rang to perfection.

Their dummer, Sienna, styled her black hair in box braids that dangled against her painted black shell, which had a row of serrated gold spikes straight down the middle. Black eyeliner lined her dark eyes. Gold spiked rings adorned all eight of her fingers. She twirled her drumsticks overhead as spotlights flashed above her.

Lemmy wore ear defenders that flickered like rainbows and he danced all over the stage on a glowing ball. He was still the smallest of Junior's siblings— tiny enough that Junior could pick him up and flip him back onstage if he tumbled off.

"Wee!" Lemmy loved being thrown so much that the band spent ten solid minutes tossing him back and forth like a ball. He posed in midair, which had everybody cracking up and made for awesome photos.

Larry— he spiked his hair like Blue's— jumped up and down in the front row. He stayed well away from the wild mosh pit trying to start behind him. Junior saw him slap hands with Blue at one point.

Morton made a huge mess throwing confetti everywhere. He stuck by Larry and screamed Sienna's name between sets, hoping to catch her eye. She looked down at him and smiled, and he grabbed his chest as if trying to keep his heart from escaping.

Iggy did backflips until he made himself dizzy. As soon as he stopped being dizzy, he stage-dove amidst the colorful lights. A bunch of Koopa Troopas caught him and surfed him around.

Wendy kept dancing with and hanging off a skinny, shrimpy looking green shelled Koopa who couldn't stop grinning at her. She still hadn't grown any hair yet, so she wore a little red pill cap covered in white bows.

Roy turned up with Boom-Boom's sister, Pom-Pom, and they kissed each other on the mouth a lot. At one point Pom-Pom twirled around and did the splits while wearing Roy's sunglasses.

Ludwig flutter-jumped among the towering speakers and interpreted the lyrics in Koopa Sign between fits of head-banging. A screen above the stage projected a larger image of him for the gathering.

Lakitu circled overhead and around the perimeter, taking aerial footage on his phone. Occasionally, he dropped Spiny eggs that exploded into metallic confetti bits.

Black had his hair spiked up in a faux Mohawk. He flailed and head banged under whichever speaker Ludwig stood on. Nobody told him when the music stopped and the talking began, so he danced a few times between song sets.

Jack, who slicked his hair to one side, impressed a lot of people by making a tumbling pass through the pathway people made for him. He ground pounded at the end, knocking a clump of Goombas into the air. They were safely crowd surfed back to their original positions.

"I took ballet when I was younger. Stand back!" Stevie spent a short time on stage thumping a tambourine. She beat out a rhythm to keep the crowd excited between songs. Everybody enjoyed her high kicks and pirouettes.

Elton— who wore pink star-shaped glasses— flitted about with Freddie, both dropping ribbons on unsuspecting people below. Their aerial acrobatics won them cheers and time in the stage spotlights.

Celine leaned in to kiss a gorgeous gold shelled Koopa Troopa Junior hadn't met before.

"Hey! Hatch-day prince!" She pulled Junior over, twirling him. "This is Pat! My wife."

"Oh! Hi. How come I never saw you downstairs?" He wondered aloud.

"I work in the operating room. I'm an anesthesiologist, so I'm the person who helps people go to sleep before surgery and wake up after." Pat beamed. Her shimmery purple eyeshadow caught the light whenever she blinked. "Gosh, Prince Junior, you're getting taller!"

He bounced on his heels and flexed his biceps with a mischievous grin. "Someday, I'm going to be big like my dad!"

"But can you blow fireballs like him?" Pat leaned forward, teasing.

"Yes! Big ones!"

"Show me." She beckoned at him. "Hit me with your best shot! Fire away!"

Junior blew one over her head. She watched it light a ribbon on fire and laughed. "Wow! That was big! EEK!"

"Koopa-napping!" Freddie swooped down to pick her up. "Aaaaand another one bites the dust!"

Celine crossed her arms. "Now I'm all by myself— ack!"

"Gotcha!" Elton snagged her. "Can you feel the love tonight?"

"I do now!" Celine smiled.

The four of them laughed as they ascended above the stage. A spotlight followed their flight.

Junior found Josh sipping lemonade from the refreshment table taking up the whole right side of the party.

"Happy hatch-day, little liege!" He offered a graceful bow.

Junior got himself a glass of lemonade and gulped it. "Thanks. Why're you hiding over here?"

Josh smiled sheepishly, tapping his fingers on his plastic cup. "I don't know anything about metal music or this band. I'm out of my league."

"Aw, it's fine." Junior snagged a fat Birdo drumstick and tore into it. He spoke with his mouth full, "Just watch how everybody dances and copy them. See? Look at Judy over there."

Junior pointed to Judy's yellow shell as she kicked her feet and clapped with a bunch of other Koopa Troopas and Hammer Brothers. Three Goombas leapt and flipped around her.

"So she dances, heh." Josh finished his drink. "Then so too shall I!"

He joined her, flailing around wildly like everyone else.

A lot of adults kept grabbing silver cans and bottles out of an enormous ice cooler under the refreshment table.

"Hey, what's that?" Junior pointed at Iggy.

"Grownup drinks!" Iggy guzzled the contents of his bottle and left it on the table. He walked away, belching as loud as he could, unaware of the huge red streamer stuck in his wild green hair.

Junior examined the silver bottle with its red star logo. Stellar Beer, somehow brewed out of barley and cactus juice. He sipped the tiny bit left, coughed on the sharp bitterness and spat it out. His tongue stung with a mix of ear wax, someone's stinky morning breath and unsweetened ash paste. How did adults drink that stuff?

Bowser had a bottle. Roy and Morton slapped two cans together and drank the fizz. Boom-Boom helped a few Goombas drink from a bottle. Black and Ludwig toasted each other with bottles and gulped it. Pom-Pom, Stevie, Elton and Freddie enjoyed cans of the stuff.

Junior stuck to drinking lemonade. Adults were weirdos.

Cherry showed up five songs into the concert-party, much to his surprise. Bowser gave her a small bright red Koopa Troopa shell with two white helium balloons tied to the shoulders on long strings, white glow in the dark bracelets and a tiny black Hammer Brother helmet. He stood her up on his shoulders since she was hard to see at first.

His roar silenced the party for a moment.

"Pay attention, everybody! You see this princess on my shoulders? Nobody slams her! If she gets hurt because somebody's a dipshit, that dipshit is gonna get it from me, got it?"

Choruses of affirming noises went up.

The music kicked off again and the chaos resumed.

When a proper mosh pit broke out by the stage, Bowser held Cherry in place on his shoulders and mowed everybody down before cutting her loose on the floor. The balloons and glowing bracelets made keeping track of her easy. If she fell, and she did a lot, someone immediately snatched her upright again.

Junior thought she looked funny wearing a Koopa Troopa shell— it caused her to waddle more than she walked— but he had the time of his life dancing with her while Bowser kept other moshers from flattening her.

They flailed about together, punching the air, kicking at nothing and occasionally shoving someone else as music blasted around them.

Koopa Paratroopas moshed overhead. Boom-Boom ran around the perimeter, his big fists knocking away anybody who came at Junior or Cherry too fast.

Others tried to pile on Roy, and he threw them off, laughing.

Junior bent to right an overturned Spiny.

"Look!" Cherry pointed at Black doing handstand pushups with Jack egging him on.

Lemmy stage dove and crowd surfed while clutching his glowing ball.

Bowser shoved his way across the mosh pit.

Crimson leapt off the stage right in front of Junior to wail on his guitar. His feathery blood red Mohawk fluttered when he head banged.

"Happy hatch-daaaaaaay!" He unshouldered his guitar strap and offered Junior a chance to play it.

Junior glanced up towards the speaker Ludwig stood on, since he was the one who taught him how to work a guitar.

"That, that, that!" Ludwig signed excitedly at him, "Go! Play it!"

Bowser shaped his arms like an air guitar. "Go for it, kiddo!"

So Junior wailed on the strings and nailed the entire guitar solo for Bust You. Everybody cheered and screamed.

His eyes blurred with happy tears when he gave Crimson his guitar back and found himself caught up in a headlock-hug.

"Happy hatch-day, Prince Junior!" Crimson shouted again. "I hope you have a blast!"

Blue stage dove next, crashing down behind him, howling, "Happy hatch-daaaaaaaaaay!"

"YEEEEAAAAAAH!" Junior did his best roar, and they both high-foured him.

Sienna backflipped off the stage to shake Junior's hand. "Happy hatch-day kid!" She looked unbelievably pretty when she smiled.

"Whoa…hey." Morton stood up behind Junior with a silly love-struck expression on his face.

"Hey, you're the screamer, aren't you? What's your name?" She smiled again, her movements mere flickers among the lights swishing around the stage.

Junior lost track of them in all the chaos of the concert.

"Cherry!" He had to scream over the music.

"What?"

"Wanna see something gross?"

"Yeah!"

Junior sneaked her to the table where somebody left a beer bottle. "Taste this."

She sipped, screwed her face up and spat it on the ground. "Ew!"

Bowser sprinted out of the mosh pit and confiscated the bottle from her hands. "Nope!"

"I just let her taste it." Junior complained. "We think it's gross!"

"Still, nope!" He drank what was left in that bottle so they wouldn't be able to.

"AAAHAHAHA!" Iggy scream-laughed as he ran past wearing Wendy's pill cap behind his plumed green hair.

"Get back here, you dumbass!" Wendy sprinted after him, bracelets jangling.

Larry took the last beer can in the cooler.

Ludwig and Black sat atop one of the speakers with their hands interlocked. Bowser took a picture of that and used the Catapult app on his phone to send it to them. They checked at the same time, found him in the crowd and laughed, holding up their phones.

Somewhere across the way, Morton lit fireworks mortars that exploded above the stage in showers of color.

"Having fun, kiddo?" Bowser nudged Junior.

"Yeah!" Junior leapt up and down.

"It's not over yet!" He winked.

After the concert was a Kart race around the castle. Junior and Cherry rode double, laughing and shrieking the whole time.

Everybody who drank that gross beer drove more chaotically than they usually did. Especially Lemmy!

Somebody's engine gave off a weird screeching roar. Junior didn't realize it was Black yelling at the top of his lungs until he passed him on the metal grate lava bridge. He laughed— Black would've fit right in singing with Serrated!

Ludwig cut into the lead and spun Black out with a green shell at the same time he fishtailed on the banana peel Black flung in front of him.

"AHAHA!" Iggy pointed and cackled, and got wiped out by a red shell Lemmy shot. "Oof!"

Lemmy spun on a green shell Jack fired at him.

Larry crashed into Lemmy while turning the sharp corner.

Wendy went off the track after Junior blinded her with Blooper ink.

Roy and Morton slowed down to avoid the wreckage and took direct hits from the green shells still careening around.

Boom-Boom and Pom-Pom knocked each other off the track by taking the same corner too fast.

The race was total mayhem!

"I'm gonna catch you!" Bowser yelled from behind.

He and Junior ended up neck and neck on the straightaway. Then Junior spun on the smashed banana peel that took Ludwig out. He watched Bowser accelerate away.

"I've gotcha, hatch-day kid!"

Blue jumped over the wall, tucked himself inside his spiked shell and zoomed towards the front of the race, his white wings beating so fast they became a blur.

Bowser was in first place, a turn away from the finish line. He only had time to look up at the blue shell circling overhead.

"Oh sh—"

BOOM!

His Kart flipped three times in the air!

"That's my kid!" He hollered proudly from his overturned Kart.

"Is he okay?" Cherry asked.

Junior laughed as he drifted his Kart around the last turn and crossed the checkered line. "Yup! He crashed harder than that before!"

Blue— the only Koopa daring enough to blue shell the king— helped Bowser up afterward. They slapped hands and laughed together.

At the end, a giant ten-tiered chocolate cake covered in candles and frosted spikes. It looked like a bunch of Koopa shells. Junior had to use a step stool to blow all the flames out. Everybody got a piece.

He would never forget that hatch-day party. Tenth hatch-days were a big deal for Koopas, and Bowser made sure it was huge.

But the day after?

Not fun. He had an appointment with Neil. Boring!

Junior got to brag about his party, so that beat back some of the sting.

"Ten whole years old! Really? Are you telling the truth?" Neil gasped dramatically.

"Yeah, I turned ten yesterday. Serrated came to sing for me, and they even sang happy hatch-day! They signed a huge poster for me, too!"

"Wow! You lucky kid!" Neil gasped, one hand over his heart. "Gosh, I remember being your age. My favorite band was Topspin."

"That takes me back," Bowser grinned. "But, sorry, I was and still am a Shellshock fan. Heh, it's hard to outdo Bloody spitting actual blood halfway across the stage."

"Didn't he die from that?" Neil made a face.

"Nah. That was Quiver trying to copycat. Poor guy."

"That's old fart music." Junior stuck his tongue out at them. "Doctor Neil! Look what dad gave me."

He showed off his studded armbands and wristbands. Only studs because he wouldn't be old enough for true spikes until he turned thirteen. He got a studded choker, too, but he liked to wear his new plain white bandanna over it.

"Oooh, neat! Wait. Hold on. What's this?" Neil pointed to Junior's swishing tail. "Do I see your first tail spike?"

"Since last month," Bowser said proudly from his spot by the exam room door. "Look at him! He's getting longer in every direction."

Neil beamed, clasping his hands together in front of his chest. "Actually, he looks just like you did at that age."

Junior huffed under his breath. Five years ago, he barely reached his dad's hips. Now, the top of his head almost touched the horizontal surgical scars between his plastron ridges.

He noticed his growth in other ways— sometimes his hair got stuck between his neck and shell when he took his topknot down, his horns started to curve, his teeth looked more like teeth and less like thorns, he developed his chin cleft and upper lip cleft, his nose began to define itself from the rest of his snout and his new bandana only covered his chest.

So, he grew some, and now he had to sit through tests. Yesterday was so fun that he totally forgot about today. This wasn't how he imagined spending the day after his hatch-day!

"What's so important about me having a tail spike anyway?" Junior grumbled.

Neil washed his hands and picked up his stethoscope. He gestured at the exam table. "You're entering puberty."

"The start of the awkward years," Bowser snickered.

Junior climbed onto the exam table, paper crackling under him as he twisted into a sitting position.

The posters by the door across from him had diagrams of eyes and ears and the walls were painted pale green. It still smelled weird in here, like hot bandaids.

"Why are medical places always stinky?" He wondered aloud.

Bowser snorted. "You smell it, too?"

"It's a mixture of cleaning chemicals and latex." Neil rubbed the stethoscope in circles over his palm. "Now, quiet please. I'm going to listen."

The metal was still uncomfortably chilly against Junior's plastron. He pressed his hands flat on the table to keep himself still while Neil listened to his heart.

"Hm." Neil moved the chest piece lower.

Bowser lifted his eyebrows. "Is that a good 'hm' or a bad 'hm'?"

Neil held his finger up and shifted the chest piece to the left. Then, after another moment, he smiled.

"It's so rare to study Crash hearts as they grow." He moved the stethoscope away and gently poked Junior's chest. "You have a mid-systolic click, my young liege. I won't be surprised if you developed a little mitral valve prolapse. The echo should confirm it."

"Neil, this is my kid, not a science experiment." Bowser crossed his arms, his imposing form taking up nearly all the space next to the door.

"MVPs are common in Crash." Neil reached for the sonogram equipment. Bowser had to move out of the way when he plugged it in. "They show up just before adolescence and disappear after it passes. Your majesty, it's possible you had the same thing, and it was never noticed because nobody knew you had Crash."

"That sounds bad," Junior touched his chest to feel his own heartbeat.

"It's nothing to worry about right now. Not unless the valve keeps prolapsing after you're an adult."

"Why, though?"

"Crash hearts grow at different speeds than the rest of the organ and your heart has to catch up to the parts that grow first. You had a really big left ventricle and mitral valve the last time you had an echo, so I'm curious to see how it looks now."

"What's a prolapse?"

Neil used his fingers to demonstrate the swinging motion.

"A prolapse means one leaflet is billowing backwards into the atrium. If it still closes fully, that's fine, it's nothing to worry about. Sometimes they can regurgitate, or let blood leak back into the atrium instead of going into the ventricle and out to your body. We don't want that."

"Oh."

"Here, lay on your left side— there you go. Move your bandanna for m— great! Okay!" Neil helped Junior position himself on the crackly paper covering the table. "Use your arm as a little pillow. Now here comes the gel. It's cold, sorry."

Junior flinched at the sudden chill. The transducer Neil used on him was a lot smaller than the one he saw him use for Bowser.

A stool behind him creaked. Bowser sat down and patted his head. "I'll be right here, kiddo."

"Is it gonna hurt?"

"Nah."

"I'm going to begin. Try to be still for me."

"Okay."

Faint vibrations were all Junior felt. The screen came to life with a ghostly outline of his beating heart. Four little valves wiggled open and shut.

It was upside down!

The image was so staticky and strange. Junior didn't know how any doctors made sense of it.

"Ah, look at that, your right ventricle caught up to the left." Neil pointed to the screen. "Here's the right ventricle, and left ventricle, and the right and left atria, and that line down the middle is the septum." He indicated more bits of the ghostly weird image. "The bottom of your heart, the apex, is closest to the transducer. Imagine this thing on your chest is a little person and we're following their eyes as they look up at your heart."

"Okay. Which one is my mitral valve?" Asked Junior.

Neil pointed to a wiggling blob. "This one."

All Junior made out were lines moving back and forth. The stool creaked as Bowser leaned over him to peer closer at the tiny screen.

"Can you see anything?" Junior whispered.

"I see your heart beating like it's supposed to," Bowser replied.

"I see a heart that works. See those little round things down there?" Neil pointed. "Those are papillary muscles. Yours are all in the right places."

Junior wrinkled his snout. "They have the cord thingies that stop my valves from flipping backwards, right?"

"Chordae tendineae. That's right! High four for that!" Neil held out his hand, and Junior slapped it.

He moved the transducer to the left side of Junior's chest, and the blurry image refocused on his heart from the side.

"Now we're looking at your left ventricle and mitral valve right there."

It was a closer view. Junior watched the valve wink open and shut. The bottom leaflet billowed after it closed, like curtains disturbed by wind.

"I'm going to do a color Doppler test now. I'll make it easy— we want to see red and blue, but not yellow or green."

Neil pushed a button and the screen lit up with bright red and blue moving across the valve. He watched it for a few moments, sometimes asking Junior to take a deep breath or cough.

No yellow or green anywhere to be seen.

Bowser let out a breath Junior didn't know he held.

Everything got boring after that. Junior closed his eyes and tuned out the jabber. Neil moved the transducer around his chest and talked to Bowser using a lot of big medical words.

"Are we done yet?" Junior grumbled.

Neil chuckled at that. "Almost. Then you'll prep for your angiogram."

He twisted the transducer to look up at the valves, somehow getting a view that showed all of their little moving cusps. Once again, he activated the Doppler mode to watch the colorful red and blue blobs flicker.

The stool creaked again. It was so quiet in the room that Junior heard the air moving through Bowser's nostrils and throat as he breathed.

"What's the scoop, doc?"

Neil smiled. "No signs of regurgitation in any valves."

Junior whined, "Am I getting another needle?"

"Yup. Sorry. Ooh, I guess you don't like needles. Your heart started racing."

"Hmph!"

Bowser steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. "Junior, be still."

"I'm hungry! This is boring!"

"This is important." Bowser stopped him with a low growl.

Neil had to reposition the transducer practically under Junior's chin and the fuzzy image on the screen revealed what looked like a freeway bridge with on-ramps.

"Perfect aortic arch. No stenosis." To Junior, he added, "Stenosis means something is too narrow."

With that, Neil set the transducer on the machine, switched it off and pushed it flush against the wall. He wiped the gel off Junior's chest with a cold, damp rag.

"Good job, little liege." Neil patted his shoulder. He looked over his head at Bowser. "Judy will be in shortly."

The second the door closed, Junior retreated into his shell. Nobody could stick him with needles now!

"I'm not doing it!" He growled.

"Junior," Bowser picked him up, "Come on. Don't make me pop you out of there."

"I said I'm not doing it!"

"Do you think this is fun for me?" Bowser's tone hardened. "It's not! It's as scary as it was for you to watch me have heart attacks. We're doing this so you don't have to go through what I did."

Fury tightened Junior's stomach muscles. "It's still a million years away!"

"It's—"

"Hello!" The door scraped open and Judy's bright voice sounded like a death knell.

"I'M NOT DOING IT!" Junior yelled.

"Uh oh!" She never changed her cheerful tone. "Bad day?"

"Something like that." Bowser muttered. "Junior, last chance. Come out, or I'm popping you out."

"I'm not!" Junior bellowed at the top of his lungs. "I'm not, I'm not, I'm NOT!"

Bowser whispered something to Judy. Then he tipped Junior upside down and whacked on the bottom end of his shell. Junior tumbled out onto the table, still curled up in a protective ball. Chilly air and bright lights were all the warning he got that he was de-shelled.

Before he could react, Bowser scooped him up in his arms and pinned him against his chest.

"Wha— no! NO!" Junior screamed, squirming desperately. His dad was so strong that he could barely wiggle in any direction.

Judy's gloved hand grasped the end of his tail and wiped the whole bottom side with something cold.

"I have to poke you, little prince." Her voice never lost its tenderness. "I'm sorry."

"NO!" Junior wailed and pushed against Bowser's chest. "Dad! Daddy! Let go! Lemme go!"

"Here we go," Judy's grip tightened. "One, two…three!"

Hot pain shot up his tail.

"OWWWAHAAAAA! NO MORE! AAAH! OW!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and burst out sobbing.

"All done!" Judy said brightly, rubbing the top side of his tail while she wrapped tape over the bottom. "You did it!"

Bowser tucked Junior's head under his chin and relaxed his hold to hug him instead.

"You're okay," he rumbled, kissing the back of his head.

"Your chest is smaller," Junior sniffled.

"Actually, you got bigger." Bowser nuzzled their cheeks against each other. "But you're still small enough to hang onto."

"Where's my sticker?" Junior blindly stuck his hand out. "I want my sticker."

"Here it is." Judy's hand caught his and stuck something to it. A glittery white star. "Now I'm going to give you the sleepy juice. Ready?"

He didn't watch her inject it into the catheter in his tail.

"We'll give that a few minutes." She patted his foot since it was in reach and tossed her gloves into the metal trash can by the exam table. To Bowser, she said, "Here, sire, for when it's time to take him in."

"Got it."

The door scraped on its hinges.

Junior rubbed his eyes, sniffling. Already, his head seemed too heavy. He heard Bowser's heart thudding away. It occurred to him that, sometime in the future, he would lay his head on his chest and find silence.

"You're going to die someday," Junior whispered.

Bowser's bass voice rumbled through his chest. "Yeah. Someday."

"Am I gonna see you do it?"

"Maybe."

"Soon?" Junior curled into the familiar warmth of Bowser's body heat. He couldn't imagine a world without his dad. The concept deflected off his mind like it refused to be comprehended.

"I hope not." Bowser's throat moved.

"Are you scared of dying?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I did it before. It's not scary. You know what's scary?"

"What?"

"Leaving you like this, when you're still a little kid."

"But you will die someday." Junior sniffed.

There was a gurgle when Bowser swallowed. "You will, too, eventually. We all die, it's part of life."

"I don't want you to."

"I don't want to, either."

"Dad?"

"Hm?"

"What did dying feel like?"

"It's…" Bowser sighed, lightly scratching his bare back with his claws. "It's like falling asleep on the couch and waking up in bed because somebody carried you away. You're in the Great Beyond, but you didn't walk there. You just…you go into this light that's brighter than the sun. Nothing hurts, nothing scares you, you don't feel mad or sad anymore."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Junior's head swayed as he leaned more on his dad's thick plastron. The old surgical scar under his cheek moved whenever he breathed.

"It won't be for me, it's gonna be hard for you, though." Bowser hugged him closer, voice husky, "Remember one thing, Junior. Love lives longer than people do. I love you now, and I'll still love you after I'm dead and gone. That'll never go away."

Junior clung to the rim of his dad's shell, comforted by their closeness. "What if mama Peach died?"

Bowser's chest rose and fell in a deep breath.

"That would break my heart."

"What if I died?"

That caused Bowser's chest to hitch, like it hurt to think about.

"That would break me." He held Junior tighter. "You're not supposed to die before me, kiddo. That's why we're doing all this."

Everything got fuzzier, further away. Junior tightened his grip, fighting it. "I'm gonna cry if you die."

Bowser's cheek rounded in a smile at that. "Yeah, you will, but then you'll carry on living your life. All my love for you is gonna follow you around and smack you like a blue shell on a Kart track."

He nuzzled his cheek against Junior's again, murmuring, "It's my job as your dad to set things up so you'll have a great future after I go. You'll miss me, yeah, but you'll have a lot to look forward to, too."

"Okay…" Junior's eyes were heavy and losing focus. "I'll take care of you when you're old with all white hair and too curled up to walk."

Laughing, Bowser replied, "You'll feed me mashed up meat and wipe my mouth after?"

"Yup."

"And eat my guts at the funeral?"

"Yup!" Junior giggled sleepily. Somehow, that sounded funnier than it was.

Footsteps approached. Someone knocked twice. The door scraped open.

"Showtime," Neil said.

"He's drunk enough," Bowser's weight shifted as he stood. "He's confessing crimes to me. We had a very interesting conversation about the future."

"Daaaad!" Junior grumbled.

"Kiiiiiiiiiiid!" Bowser imitated him while helping him put on the warm robe Judy left.

Just in time— Junior hated how cold he felt after Bowser set him on the gurney. His dad's metallic brimstone scent disappeared into stinging chemicals and bleach.

He curled up on his side and drifted further towards sleep. The last thing he remembered was his dad kissing his cheek and covering him with blankets.

"See you soon, kiddo."

.o

Waiting rooms were for chumps. Bowser parked himself on a stool next to the elevator instead, so he would see Junior getting wheeled out. As king, he could do that without anybody telling him not to.

He twirled Junior's tiny shell between his palms while he waited.

Persistent, uncomfortable pressure kept coming and going in his chest. He caved, reached under his shell for his pill bottle and stuck a nitro tablet under his tongue. His third one since he woke up. It tasted like gravel.

"Your majesty, are you all right?" Judy noticed him hunching over where he sat.

"I'm f—" Bowser remembered what happened the last two times he ignored feeling this way. He looked squarely into her eyes. "I think I'm about to have another one. I'm popping nitros like candy and it's not helping."

Her eyes darted around. She leaned in close, whispering in his ear, "Do you want me to run blood work?"

He nodded.

She took him into an exam room, out of sight.

"I hope whatever Neil finds in Junior is fixable," he muttered, wiping his hair backwards.

"Crash is easy to deal with when it's found early."

"Doesn't make it any easier to wait."

"It's the hardest part of being a parent. When you can't make it better."

"Watching all my kids get tested felt like running a damn circus."

"I remember." Judy half-smiled sympathetically. "Send in the clowns."

"I have two. Iggy and Lemmy." Bowser grinned.

She snorted as she gloved up and scrubbed the crook of his left arm with alcohol wipes. His arms were thick and his scales thicker, but they worked the best for getting blood. People had to stab hard to reach his veins, but she nailed the jab like it was nothing.

"I play darts." She winked. "Make a fist. Relax. Make another fist. There we go, good flow."

Bowser watched his dark red blood pour into the vial.

"Poor Junior, he's terrified of needles. Do you think he'll grow out of it?"

"I don't know." Judy pressed cotton over the needle where it entered his vein before withdrawing it.

Bowser's phone rang, blasting rock music into the room. He shot Judy an apologetic look as he checked the caller ID.

"My daughter."

"Take it, it's fine."

Nodding, he swiped and put the phone to his head. "Hi, darling."

"Hi, daddy," Wendy's cheerful voice cooed, "Sorry for rushing out last night. I found a castle and the buyer wanted to close the deal. He's getting impatient. It's kind of pricey, but…"

"How much?"

She stated the number.

He clicked his tongue. "I'll put it through."

"Really? Without seeing it?"

"Anything for my girl!"

"Aw, thanks!" Wendy swished her phone around. She was outside somewhere windy. "Are you okay, daddy? You sound tired."

Judy taped the cotton ball over the needle poke. She gestured to the door. Bowser nodded, giving a thumbs up, and she quietly left.

"Eh, just a little hungover." He stared at the tape on his arm. "Junior's having his angio right now."

"Oh, really? I thought that was tomorrow."

"Nope, today. I don't know anything, they just took him back."

"Geez, right after his birthday, too. Poor kid." Wendy sighed. "I still have the diamond bracelets you gave me for my tenth. So— oops!" She rustled her phone. "I have to go. Mitch is on the other line, and I have to tell him to piss off."

"Atta girl!" Bowser laughed. "Dump that bastard, you're too good for him."

"That's the plan, but sometimes it's fun to watch 'em grovel."

"I raised you well." He grinned, all teeth. "Take care, sweetie."

"Thanks, daddy. Love you! Bye."

"Love you, too. Buh-bye."

Bowser clicked his phone off, stuck it into his shell and juggled Junior's much smaller one between his hands when he resumed his spot in the hallway. The nitro pill made him lightheaded, so he perched on the stool once more.

Time ticked by. Fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes. Forty-five minutes.

The metal double doors swung open with Neil leading Junior's gurney to the recovery room on the left. This area had friendly pale green paint over the bricks and a darker green privacy curtain.

Bowser set Junior's shell on the gurney by his feet. "Well?"

"He's going to be out for another hour," Neil gestured to his office, where he whipped out his tablet to show the ghostly angiogram images.

"Junior has stage four Crash, just like you." He indicated all the major coronary arteries. They looked thin as hairs. "I stented them, and they opened right up to the size they're supposed to be."

"What kind, again?" Bowser sat on the chair across from Neil.

"Zinc polymer, the biodegradable sort that dissolves over ten years. By then, his arteries will have grown to a more normal size."

Neil used his pen to point out the darkened shadows on the second image.

"They won't create scar tissue, either. The surface releases molecules that prevent platelets from clotting on them, too. The risks of future stenosis are greatly reduced. His risks of having a fatal heart attack in the main vessels just went from seventy-five percent to ten percent."

Exhaling, Bowser rubbed a hand across his own chest, fingertip tracing scars left by two bypass procedures.

"What about the smaller branches?"

"He may still have heart attacks in those, but we can prevent them with regular angiograms starting when he's thirty. We did all we can for now, but we just guaranteed he lives a long life."

Bowser smiled, his shoulders relaxing. "That's what I hoped for."

"There you are." Judy rattled a piece of paper. "Your majesty, your troponin levels are elevated."

Right as she said that, Bowser felt a dull twinge crawl along his chest. "Shit."

Neil studied the sheet Judy handed him. He snapped his fingers. "Get an ECG."

Judy brought in a monitor and hooked Bowser up with wired leads. Neil watched it, his eyes narrowed.

"Mmhmm, brand new heart attack. Left side, posterior, probably the circumflex. Judy, set up the cath lab, stat."

Bowser's breath caught in his throat.

"Go!" Neil leapt off his seat, and Judy beckoned to Bowser.

Three fucking heart attacks, Bowser curled his fingers against his chest like it betrayed him.

He shrugged his shell off, laid back on the gurney brought in for him and endured the very painful IV catheter being placed in his caudal vein.

Judy nailed it in one stab like a champ, but still! He couldn't blame Junior for screaming his head off.

It didn't hurt as much as the pericardiocentesis needle. Sometimes he woke up in a cold sweat remembering that poke.

Things moved quickly, almost in a blur. He got a shot of something that relaxed his tense muscles, though he didn't drop off to sleep.

"Another one?" Celine's jaw dropped when she walked on duty to Bowser sitting on the gurney.

"Junior got stented today. Figured I might as well get one, too." Bowser quipped back. Either he made dark jokes, or he flew into a rage, and getting angry wouldn't help his situation.

She studied the portable heart monitor situated between his feet and slowly nodded. "ST elevations, just like the last few times. Try not to go into cardiac arrest, my liege."

"I'm making every effort not to," he said.

Celine patted his arm and brushed by to put her bag down. "I'll be tending to Junior when he wakes up."

Bowser glimpsed Junior sleeping soundly in the recovery area as the gurney took him through the double doors.

The table next to the C-shaped fluoroscopy contraption had been readjusted to accommodate the curve in his spine. Scooting over onto it and laying back wasn't a comfortable experience. It was cold in the cath lab.

He especially hated the mirror-like ceiling. Seeing his reflection reminded him of the times he floated above himself lying open on the operating table.

Stevie and Josh wore lead aprons, collars, caps and covers over their shells. They both bowed respectfully.

"I have to wipe your vent," Josh said.

"You aren't smearing it on my dick, Josh. Go for it and get it done."

Bowser endured the uncomfortable coldness of betadine being smeared halfway down his tail, across his groin and up into his crotch. Stevie spread out the sterile gray drapes and laid them over every part of his body except his head and the bit of his tail where they would be working.

"Your royal crown, sir," she said playfully as she draped a sterile paper cap over his hair and horns.

Bowser waggled his eyebrows. "Nice."

Josh adjusted the fluoroscopic tower over Bowser's chest. The drapes lifted momentarily. Stevie placed wireless ECG leads and got them coded to the heart monitor next to the video monitor.

Someone tall and muscular entered the room with all the loud grace of a Sledge Brother. He was draped in protective gear.

Jack's round red glasses frames gleamed in the overhead lights. The thick lenses magnified his coal colored eyes.

"Neil told me to entertain you," he said as a way of greeting.

"Really?" Bowser looked up at him, raising a brow. "Did you get a new prescription?"

"Heh, yeah, double aspheric lenses. My eyes keep getting worse. My optometrist says I'm going to be legally blind in the next ten years." Jack used his forearm to push his glasses up on his beaky nose. "Imagine that, I'm the one guy who can hear in my family, and I'm blind as a friggin' bat."

"The universe likes to be funny." Bowser snickered. Serious again, he scrunched up his nose. "I hope his angio doesn't go to shit like the last one. That's all I'm nervous about."

"I doubt it." Jack replied.

Josh turned on the bright surgical light over the table.

Neil entered, also draped in lead like the others. Everyone tied their surgical masks over their snouts and donned their gloves. Stevie set out the tray with everything necessary for the procedure, including a needle full of lidocaine.

"All right, your majesty, here comes a poke in your tail. This will numb you."

"Yeah, yeah," Bowser closed his eyes. Dull pain crawled along his left shoulder, a familiar ache that sent dread into his stomach. He was glad to be laying down.

Neil stabbed much harder than Judy. "Okay, we'll let that work."

"Neil, no offense— don't need a narrated tour, just do it."

"Of course, sire, whatever you want."

"Tch." Bowser flopped his head back against the cushion.

"Feel that, sire?"

"Whatever it is, no."

"Okay. We're ready."

Neil used a long needle that almost rivaled the pericardiocentesis beast. Bowser saw everything because of the obnoxious mirrored ceiling. He never felt the jab, but his stomach churned a little at seeing bright red arterial blood enter the tube when Neil pulled the plunger back.

"We're in. Please hold still."

He injected something yellow, capped the tube and withdrew the needle, leaving a hollow catheter in place.

The fluoroscope activated, bringing the screen online to show the ghostly shadow of Bowser's beating heart. Unlike regular X-rays, bones and tissue showed up dark while everything else was pale blue-gray.

Jack perched on a stool and scooted it closer to Bowser's head in a series of scraping creaks.

"You don't know how loud two deaf people are until you live next door to them."

"Well, duh, they can't hear how noisy they are." Bowser scoffed.

Jack leaned over, careful not to block the video screen. "Their shower is right behind the wall where my bed is."

"So?"

Quieter, Jack muttered, "They have sex in there. It's not fun hearing my brother get off."

Bowser snorted in barely-repressed laughter. "Move your bed to another room if the noise bothers you that much."

"It's a one bedroom apartment. My options are the bathroom or living room."

"Your point?"

"Ugh."

"Just tell them they fuck too loud."

"With all due respect, your majesty, that's awkward."

Bowser raised a brow. "Ludwig screwed Black in his room the night before he moved out. They don't know I heard everything. It was three in the morning, to be fair."

"Seriously?" Jack blinked. His glasses caught the light. "I couldn't look Black in the eye yesterday because I heard him get off, and he came over to ask me for TV remote batteries with his hair still wet from the shower! You heard your kid come and it didn't bother you at all?"

Bowser grinned, flashing his sharp teeth. "Eh, it did, but I got over it. It's my job as a dad to know things about my kid that he doesn't know I know. He'd be mortified if he knew I heard him being a kinky little shit. Whatever he did, he gave Black the time of his life."

Jack sighed, rolling his eyes. "I wish they didn't go at it in the shower, that's all. I barely hear it when they're in their bedroom."

"It's not even occurring to them that you can hear what they're doing." Bowser wiggled his fingers under the drape.

"Pigtail catheter is in position," Neil whispered to Stevie.

Heat spread through Bowser's chest as Neil injected the dye. He peeked at the screen and noticed his distal end of his right coronary artery curled up like a squiggly worm instead of laying smooth. It never recovered after the failed stent, so blood flowing through the grafted bypass vein kept the right side of his heart alive.

"Ugh, rock and a hard place," Jack used his forearm to adjust his glasses so he wouldn't contaminate his hands. "I don't want to be the neighbor who ruins their good time, you know?"

"You sound jealous that he's getting laid." Bowser snickered.

"Maybe I am, a little."

Snap-whirs sounded while the fluoroscope tower tilted into the eleven o'clock position. The catheter Neil inserted looked like a black worm wiggling on the surface of Bowser's beating heart.

Few things grossed Bowser out, but that did. He bit his tongue so he wouldn't gag.

"Take a deep breath in and hold it," said Neil.

Bowser filled his lungs. Uncomfortable warmth built up around his left armpit. Dye passed through his coronary arteries, creating oily lines shaped like his blood vessels on the screen.

"Breathe normally."

The tower whined to a ten o'clock position.

Neil moved the catheter and injected dye again. Outlines of the left anterior descending coronary artery and its bypass graft showed up dark on the screen, like plant stems. He shifted the catheter and shot more dye.

One artery refused to fully appear. The dye stopped halfway down and spilled back onto itself.

"Found it! I was right." Neil pointed to the screen. "The circumflex posterior descending branch is occluded."

"Damn it," Bowser turned his head away as a nauseating dull ache swelled through his jaw and shoulder. "What the hell are you doing? That hurts."

Neil never missed a beat. "Your arteries are going into spasms. They don't like me poking around in them. I'm going to send some nitro through to relax things a bit. Feel any better?"

"Not really!"

"Give it a sec."

"Neil, he's getting tachy," whispered Stevie. She stood on her tiptoes to be visible over Bowser's huge feet. "Your highness, take some deep breaths for us."

Bowser sucked a slow breath through his nose and blew it out of his mouth.

"Don't mind me, I'm just…er…nervous." Because he wasn't going to admit to being scared. "Don't let me crash."

"We won't," said Josh.

He had the crash cart nearby. Seeing it did not do Bowser's nerves any favor. He breathed deep again and closed his eyes.

"Hang in there, your majesty," Jack said, glasses lenses lighting up almost white from the surgical light.

"There, that's better." Stevie's smile was obvious in her voice.

"Proceeding with the wire." Neil's surgical scrubs rustled as he moved things around.

"Am I getting the same kind of stents as Junior?" Asked Bowser.

"Almost. Yours have a carbon base, so it doesn't dissolve. You need something that stays put and won't restenose, and a stainless steel stent tore you last time."

Something puffed quietly. Josh rattled a package. Neil watched the screen. Jack leaned back on his creaky stool. Stevie kept an eye on vital signs. Bowser tried to imagine himself as being anywhere but there.

"Deploying the MegaVac. Sire, this occludes the vessel temporarily, you might feel some discomfort," said Neil.

Discomfort didn't cover half of it! Bowser swore the middle of his chest was on fire. Not the worst pain he felt in his life, but difficult to ignore.

"Pulling out clots," Neil muttered. "This is a fresh plaque rupture. The last two were a few days ol— whoops, another spasm."

Bowser squeezed one eye shut. "You enjoy hurting me, jerk."

"Hardly."

Jack bent over him. "You okay?"

Nodding, Bowser closed his eyes and vented smoke through his nostrils. His dry mouth tasted musty when he licked his chops. He tried not to fall into the memories brought back by the shooting pains in his left arm.

"Slow, deep breaths," whispered Jack.

"Keep talking to me, it's helping."

"Yeah? I saw Junior on my way in. He's getting big."

"He'll be as tall as me." Bowser fought to stay present. "So far it looks like Iggy, Ludwig and Junior have the height genes."

"How's your girl?"

"Wendy? I just bought her a castle she liked."

"Heh! Is she available?"

"Ask her yourself. She chews guys up and spits 'em out."

Jack laughed at that. "Maaaaybe I'll keep my distance for now."

"Smart move."

"Are you still anxious?" Stevie asked.

"Yeah," Bowser replied.

She pushed something into his IV that eased his nerves. Ativan, he guessed, since his heart slowed down and his apprehension cooled a few degrees. "You're doing fine, sire."

Neil shifted the catheter wire back and forth a few times. Josh passed him gauze pads.

"Got the clot." Neil announced, tugging sideways on the long catheter wire. He stuck out his hand and Josh passed him another one with something silvery-black at the far end.

Some of the burning sensation in Bowser's chest eased away.

"Now, let's open this baby up." Neil fed the catheter through.

Here came the part Bowser worried the most about.

"You're doing a lot better than last time." Jack squeaked his stool. "Amy had trouble getting the stent positioned and this is going smooth."

"I'll believe that in five minutes."

Bowser stared at the screen when the wiggly worm of a catheter advanced. It wobbled to and fro, guided by small squirts of dye.

"Almost in position— there." Neil inflated the balloon and deployed the stent. It created a dark shadow, like a lattice.

Last time, Bowser felt a tearing burn during placement.

This time, his chest pain immediately stopped.

"And we're open for business!" Neil nodded his head. "Heart attack, disrupted."

"Your puns suck," Bowser laughed, more from relief than the joke.

"Every doctor needs a repertoire of terrible puns!" Neil's smile was obvious through his surgical mask. He withdrew the catheter wire while pressing a gauze pad to Bowser's tail.

Stevie took over applying pressure once Neil removed the arterial catheter. Flecks of bright red blood smattered both their gloves.

Scrubs rustled. Josh shut down the fluoroscope equipment and moved it away. The brilliant surgical light went off next, making the room comfortably dim.

"I prefer this outcome," Josh said with a wink.

"Same," Bowser offered a thumbs up. He slapped Jack's shoulder. "Good call, the chatting helped."

"Anything for my king." Jack bowed respectfully.

Josh climbed onto a stool to reposition the surgical light, but couldn't reach.

"Hey, Jack? Can you raise me up?"

"Sure." Jack set Josh on his shoulder so he could shift the light. "Do you feel stronger standing there?"

"Shut up." Josh laughed as Jack set him down.

Black walked past the door as Neil slipped out. He had his helmet on, so he was about to go on duty.

Now Bowser regretted the ball-breaking he was about to inflict.

Almost.

Jack dismissed himself with another bow, since he was due to be on duty soon.

"Hey, Josh?" Bowser called, "Get Black in here, I have to talk to him."

"Of course." Josh finished gathering up the mess from the procedure and headed out the door.

Black walked in with faint claw marks on his plastron and an enormous hickey on one shoulder.

He bowed respectfully, straightened and signed, "You called, your majesty?"

Bowser wiggled his fist up and down. "Yeah."

Before he could sign more, Stevie waved her hand to get Black's attention and signed clumsily, "Please hold pressure here."

She pointed to Bowser's tail and gesticulated that she needed to get into the cart behind her.

Nodding, Black moved to apply pressure on Bowser's tail. Bowser felt a twinge when his thumb pressed down.

Stevie climbed off her step stool and rummaged in the cart.

"Is it bleeding much?" Bowser arched his eyebrows.

Black shook his head and moved his hand to indicate a small dribble.

Nodding, Bowser decided to initiate his ball-breaking operation.

He extended two fingers on both hands and tapped his fists together. "Jack says you moan too loud in the shower."

Black erupted in a fit of squeaking, wheezing mirth, and had to try three times to reply using one hand, "That's what he gets for being the only hearing one! Are we waking him up?"

Not a lick of embarrassment. He seemed proud of it!

Bowser snickered, moving his fist up and down. "Yes."

"Did he complain about any more noise?" Black signed, expression sobering.

"No," Bowser pinched the air, "Only the shower. It's a shared wall."

Black blinked twice and rubbed his fist in circles on his chest. "I'm sorry, I didn't consider that."

He ducked his head to sign the rest, "Ludwig doesn't know how beautiful he looks with wet hair. Sometimes I can't help but kiss him."

Bowser smiled at his starry-eyed expression. He flicked his fingers, "Have all the sex you want, just try not to traumatize your poor brother. It can be unsettling for us hearies to hear our family members doing that."

"I didn't know it bothered him so much." Black looked sideways, his smile growing sheepish. He gestured slowly, "I should pay more attention to his schedule."

Bowser grinned, eyes twinkling. "I'm glad Ludwig makes you happy."

Black's face flushed pink. "I love him."

"I know. He loves you." Bowser wiggled his fingers, slowly forming each sign for emphasis. "I see it when he looks at you."

Black placed a hand over his heart and beamed, bowing his head. His phone vibrated. He checked it, put it away and signed.

"Ludwig woke up. He asked about dinner. I'm cooking tonight."

"What's on the menu?"

"Blooper tentacles on rice."

Black went to culinary school before medical school, and he was amazing at preparing food. He could've been a chef, but he chose medicine instead.

"Heh, go answer him." Bowser signed in a few quick movements. "I'll be fine."

Footsteps rustled near the end of the table. Stevie's head popped up, her gloved hands clutching rolls of gauze.

"Thank you," she signed to Black.

Black flipped his hand palm-up against his chest. "You're welcome."

He bowed respectfully, grinned and spun on his heel to leave. Somehow, he managed to bang the door shut.

"Ouch. Ow! Ack, hey!" Bowser lifted his head to focus on Stevie applying a pressure dressing to his tail. Pain shot up his spine. "Ow! The lidocaine wore off."

"Already? Huh, I'll order pain meds. I'm sorry that this hurts."

"Thanks."

She patted his foot, covered him up and let Josh take the gurney out.

.o

Vibrations prompted Junior to open his eyes. Another gurney was being aligned next to his. He saw Bowser's enormous hand holding the sidebar until Josh clicked something to lower it.

"Hey, sleepy," said Bowser.

"Dad?" Junior picked his head up, noticing Bowser's lack of shell, the cotton ball taped to the crook of his arm and the white ECG leads stuck on his chest. A monitor hooked above his gurney showed a continuous tracing.

"I got a stent, too."

"You…huh?" Junior was still so groggy, and his tail hurt!

"I started to have another heart attack, but Neil took care of it. I'm okay." Bowser reached out his hand and Junior grasped it. "How are you feeling?"

"My tail hurts. I'm hungry. Celine told me she's getting me something, but I'm hungry!"

"That'll get fixed soon." Bowser shifted his blankets around to smooth them out. Unlike Junior, he didn't have a robe to cover up. "Hey, look, you have leads too."

"Really?" Junior looked down. Sure enough, he had leads stuck on his chest like his dad. He gazed up at his own monitor. His heart beat faster than Bowser's slower tracing.

Just beyond the open curtain, Black caught up to Jack and they argued. They signed so fast and sharp that Junior only gathered the gist. Something about being loud in a shower.

Bowser laughed at them. Jack shot him a look that could melt rocks and walked off. Black made a face like he ate something sour and signed "wow" as he passed the foot of Bowser's gurney.

Bowser's laughter transitioned into red-faced snorting with tears running out of his eyes. The lines on his monitor distorted to senseless artifacts. Lights flashed as if the alarm threatened them with going off.

Junior blinked. "What's so funny?"

It took Bowser almost two minutes to calm down enough and reply, "Grownup stuff."

"Okay. Um. Dad? What's so funny about it?"

He coughed between guffaws. "You'll learn when you're older."

"I just turned older!"

"Not old enough for that, yet."

"Where's my dad?" Bellowed a familiar guttural voice.

"In here!" Bowser shouted back.

Morton poked his head around the corner, smiled to show off his craggy teeth and ducked into the space. He had a huge Koopachino steaming in his left hand, fresh out of the ShellBucks down the road from the castle. The brown styrofoam cup almost matched his hand.

"Wanted to swing by before I took off. I took a peek at your chart, kid bro." He smacked Junior's foot. "Stent twins."

Junior giggled, pulling his feet closer to himself. "Dad got one!"

"Huh?" Morton's smile dropped.

"I'm fine." Bowser swatted the air. "Neil interrupted another heart attack."

Morton sipped his steamy concoction. "Well, damn." He slurped again, beady eyes looking upward in thought.

"It's funny, y'know…I was always a slow runner and couldn't breathe too good 'til I got stents. Kinda makes me wonder if I was close to croaking without knowing."

"Maybe." Bowser fidgeted with his blanket. He grinned, side-eying Morton, "You sound hoarse."

"I screamed myself out last night." Morton snorted, pointing at Junior. "I'm surprised that one can talk at all."

Junior scoffed. "I'm not old like you yet."

"Your twenties ain't old. Dad's fifty!"

"Age contest? I'm sixty-six. I win!" Celine bustled in with a rolling tray holding a bowl, a spoon and a glass of orange juice. "Junior, your oatmeal. I snuck in some cinnamon and ash for you."

"Yay!" Junior wiggled into a more proper sitting position. Pain shot up his tail, freezing him. "Ow…stupid tail!"

"Oh! Go slowly, little prince." Celine helped him reposition his tail behind him.

She placed his food on the over-bed table and moved it closer to him.

Junior pulled the lid off to inhale the delicious aroma of breakfast. He ripped the plastic off the spoon with his teeth and dug in like he would never eat again after this.

Celine laid out napkins, patted his head and crossed around to check on Bowser's vitals.

"Dang, hungry kid," Morton said against his Koopachino lid.

"I'm growing," Junior burbled between bites.

"Yeah, you are! You're almost as tall as Larry now!" Morton replied.

"Lemmy is still tiny."

"Eh, Lemmy is our oddball."

"Geez, remember when he got his Crash tests?" Bowser winced.

"Oh, that's why he freaked out so bad?" Morton sipped from his cup.

"Yep. You know how he is when people touch his tail. He had Neil knock him all the way out to get everything done because he knew he couldn't be still."

Junior belched without excusing himself.

Bowser snickered while Celine stuck a cylindrical probe in his mouth. A small screen on the tip lit up with colored numbers about his oxygen saturation and body temperature.

"One hundred exactly…so no fever. SATs look good. Seems you dodged the bullet this time." She checked something off on his chart and took the probe back.

"Hey, dad," Morton smiled slyly. He glanced at Junior before leaning a bit closer to Bowser. "Remember Sienna?"

"Serrated's drummer? Yeah! She's gorgeous, ain't she?"

Morton waggled his eyebrows. "Let's just say I saw a lot of her last night."

Bowser sat up straighter. "No way! You banged her?"

"Like a screen door in a hurricane." He tilted his head, showing bite marks on the side of his neck. "She's a biter. I like it when they bite."

"BWAHAHA! Morton! You scallywag!"

Junior looked at them both like they lost their minds. What was so cool about banging on a girl?

"You're a groupie now," Bowser grabbed Morton's shoulder and shook him back and forth with the biggest, goofiest grin plastered on his face. "I'm proud of you for that one! Sienna, of all Koopas! Damn!"

Junior wiped oatmeal chunks off his mouth. "You're weirdos."

"We're talking about stuff you're too young to worry about yet. Anyway… Wish I could eat after I had my stents done." Morton leaned his hip on the edge of Junior's gurney. "The meds made me sicker than shit."

"I remember." Bowser made a face. "You were sorry you ignored the instructions to not eat when you puked everywhere. It was awesome!"

"The cleanup wasn't." Celine side-eyed both of them. "I should get a pay raise for the amount of vomit I had to clean up."

Morton laughed, a wet, cough-like sound. "What can I say? I'm talented. You should see what happens when I get falling-down drunk!"

"No, thanks." Celine pretended to wipe dirt off her arms. "I only deal with sick puke. Drunk puke is your problem."

Junior slurped sweet goodness off his plastic spoon. "Hey, Celine, what music did you listen to when you were ten?"

"Oh, gosh, let's see…The Backstreet Shells, In Shock, The Whirls, and Sleetwood Smack."

"Wow, and I thought I liked old stuff." Bowser laughed.

"I have taste," Celine curtseyed, "unlike you uncultured royal goofs."

They snickered, waving their hands.

Junior finished off his oatmeal bowl and downed the orange juice in several loud gulps. It was the real stuff, not the fake goop that left a bitter aftertaste. His head felt heavier as soon as he set the glass down.

"Ugh, I'm sleepy again. I think fixing my hungry reminded me that I'm sleepy."

Celine gathered up his trash. "It's the medicine they gave you for the angio. It takes a long time to wear off."

"How come I got enough to sleep and dad didn't?" He protested.

Morton grinned, lightly patting Junior's feet again, "'Cuz you're a shrimp."

"Hey!"

Celine pushed the over-bed table past him. "Don't listen to this goofball. You're extra susceptible to the sedative effects, that's all. Body chemistry is finicky like that."

"I'll say. I barely felt the first hit." Bowser adjusted his positioning.

"Well, if he's tired, I should blast off." Morton finished his Koopachino and stuck his cup in the trash pile Celine held, oblivious to her indignant scowl. "Just wanted to stop by to see how everything went."

"We're good." Bowser grinned toothily. "Take care, Morton. Ooh! Wait! Tell Roy that Pom-Pom loves purple Piranha Plants."

Morton saluted. "Will do!" He pointed to Junior. "Behave yourself, squirt."

"No." Junior pouted.

Everyone laughed. Morton waved and left the same way he arrived. Celine threw away the trash and stood at the foot of both gurneys.

"Does anybody need anything before I start my scut work?"

Bowser wiggled his toes. "Some water. One of those giant pitchers."

"Water for you," Celine pointed. "Junior?"

"I'll share water with dad."

"Sure. I'll be right back."

She got the water for them, a huge plastic pitcher and two tall glasses. Then she pulled the curtain part way across to give them privacy and shut out some of the noise.

Junior curled up on his side, facing Bowser. "Dad?"

"Yup?" Bowser's attention focused on him.

"I remember what we talked about before they took me away." Junior smiled sleepily. "How long do we live?"

"The oldest Koopa in history was two hundred and fifty when she died, but she was an unusual case. The average is a hundred and eighty."

"Maybe you'll live to three hundred and beat her."

Bowser laughed at that. "I could!" He sobered, "Why all this death talk, kiddo? You worried about me?"

"Kinda," Junior finally dared to admit it. "You went through a lot of scary heart stuff. You die if your heart stops. What if it stops in the middle of the night?"

"It won't."

Junior wasn't so sure anymore. He remembered his dad tipping over next to their Karts, and he remembered his eyes rolling back on the gurney in the elevator.

Bowser curled up on his side, too, facing Junior and mirroring his pose. "I have a serious question for you."

"What, dad?"

He paused, weighing the words before he said them. "Will you be angry at me if I die while you're still a kid?"

Junior raised both eyebrows, perplexed that anyone would ask such a question.

"Yes." He shook his head and clarified. "I'll be mad that you're not here, but I won't be mad at you." Dropping his voice low, he added, "That's like if you got mad at me for peeing the bed. You won't do it on purpose."

Laughter shook Bowser's entire body and the gurney he laid on. "Wow, what a comparison."

"It's true." Junior's eyes were so, so heavy. He pulled the blankets up to his shoulder and found a tail position that didn't send pain shooting up his back. "Let's try to live forever, dad, you and me."

Bowser stretched his huge hand out. There was a hint of sadness in his eyes, like the moon peeking between storm clouds.

Junior laid his tiny hand on Bowser's huge palm.

"I don't like impossible promises, but I'm willing to try." Bowser interlocked their fingers.

"Me, too." Junior smiled. "If love doesn't die, we won't either."

He fell asleep wrapped in hope and clinging to his dad's hand.

.o

Larry came down to the medical ward not long after Junior fell asleep. His eyelids drooped and he shot Junior uneasy looks. He didn't gel his hair to make it stand up that morning, so it flopped sideways to hide half his face and exposed black roots due for a touch-up.

"Um, dad? Lemmy's having a huge meltdown upstairs."

"What's the problem?" Bowser whispered.

"He won't— er—he can't say." Larry showed the bite marks on his wrist. "He's smacking himself in the face."

Bowser chuckled, reaching for his shell. "I'll go up."

"Are you supposed to be up and around? Sophie said—"

"Bleh! Kids trump doctors." He ignored how sore his tail was as he stepped beyond the signal range of the wireless leads on his chest.

Naturally, three people rushed him within seconds. Celine, Elton and Judy.

"Cool it!" Bowser told them. "My kid is upstairs having a bad time. I'm gonna take care of him and come back, got it?"

"Sire…" Elton began.

Bowser scowled, causing him to shrink back. He stomped past them, rounded the corner and waited in the smelly elevator for Larry.

"Damn, they breathe down my shell half the time," Bowser grumbled.

"Can't blame 'em," Larry held onto the railing while the elevator traveled up. "So what happened to you? Morton said you had to hang out down here, he didn't say why."

"Huh?" Bowser wiggled his tail. "Oh, unscheduled angio procedure. Stopped a heart attack."

Larry's eyes widened. "Another one?"

"Yup."

"Geez, are ya trying to have one in every coronary or something?"

"My body sure wants to. I don't."

The elevator thumped slightly in a steady rhythm. Larry, who had excellent rhythmical talent, cupped his hands over his snout and beatboxed to it. Bowser joined him, making high pitched squeaks and guitar noises in the back of his throat. Somehow they got halfway through a rendition of Serrated's Blow It Up by the time the elevator dinged.

"Fist bump for the cool vocals," Larry said.

Bowser grinned, smashing their knuckles together. "I'm getting older, but I can still rock."

"So does Lemmy, in his own way."

"Hell yeah."

Speaking of, Lemmy's stim toys lay strewn across the living room floor. Bright-colored Tangles, a glow in the dark Popper, glitter tubes and light-up balls were among the mess. Pillows, beanbag chairs and a weighted blanket formed a messy pile by the TV.

It looked like Larry tried everything before running for help.

And Lemmy himself was curled up on the couch, rocking back and forth with tears pouring down his snout.

Meltdowns were feelings, and behavior came from those feelings. This wasn't a twenty-three year old throwing tantrums for the sake of manipulation. Sometimes the world was too much for his brain to take it all in, even the fun stuff.

Last night's party caused a lot of chaos, so it wasn't surprising.

Bowser relaxed his stance to model calmness.

"I got this, Larry."

Larry wiped his hair off his face. "You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'm gonna finish cleaning up." Larry glanced at Lemmy and scooted into the kitchen.

It was never smart to grab Lemmy in this state. Bowser perched on the couch next to his upset son instead, letting him call the shots on touch.

"Hey, Lemmy. Bad morning, huh?"

Lemmy smacked his fists against his own head. They weren't hard blows. He threw himself across Bowser's lap and bawled furiously, fists still banging on his skull. Now touch was okay, because he asked for it.

Bowser picked him up under the armpits and hugged him tight against his chest. This applied deep pressure on his spine through his shell and stopped him from hitting himself.

"There we go. Let's take some deep breaths now. Real slow. Breathe with me?"

They took four deep breaths together. Lemmy's frantic sobbing slowed. He coughed wetly, but coughing was exhaling and that was what he needed to do most.

"There. Downshift those nerves." Bowser never spoke louder than a whisper. "Yeah. Shh. You're okay, Lemmy, you're okay."

Lemmy dropped his head onto Bowser's shoulder and clung onto the rim of his shell.

"You partied out, pal?" Bowser rumbled.

"Yeah," Lemmy sniffled. Talking again meant he was calming down. "Is Junior gonna die?"

"No. He's fine. He got stents so he won't die."

"He's not hooked up to all the stuff?"

"Nope."

Lemmy hummed under his breath and rubbed his hands in circles on Bowser's upper arms. "I'm glad. More squeeze!"

Bowser squeezed him tighter and felt him fully relax against his chest. "Hey, how about I take you down so you can see Junior?"

"Okay, but not yet." Lemmy buried his face in Bowser's shoulder.

Iggy came downstairs, yawning and scratching his wild green hair. "Morning, dad. Junior done with tests?"

"He's going to be fine."

Nodding, Iggy knocked on the bottom of Lemmy's orange shell. "Hi, twin."

Lemmy squeaked, wagging his tail. "Twin!"

Bowser caught Iggy's eye. He twirled his hands around each other and let them fall like a platform caving in, signing, "Meltdown."

Iggy gave a thumbs up to show he understood. Lemmy needed his cooldown time. He yawned again as he swiped through his phone to the purple brain shaped icon and showed Bowser the screen. Three hundred and sixty five days of no entries.

"Check me out. No seizures for a year!"

Full seizure control. That was a first. Bowser fist-pumped at the news. Having Crash and epilepsy together made keeping his seizures controlled even more important.

"What did doctor Andrea change?"

"He put me on a new time release dose, so I take it every twenty four hours. The alarm for it doesn't shut up until I open the bottle and close it again, so I don't forget." Iggy took his glasses off to clean them with the cloth he pulled out of his shell. "My EEG looked great, too, no seizure spikes at all, so he's telling me to keep doing what I'm doing unless something changes."

"That's great! Did you drink last night?" Bowser squinted at him.

"Yes," Lemmy tattled on him, "We had beer."

"Lemmy!" Iggy growled.

"Booze and Depakote don't play nice." Bowser shot Iggy a serious scowl. "I won't tell you what to do. Just be careful."

"Yeah, yeah. Only one beer, I promise." Iggy grinned sheepishly and perched his glasses on his face again. "Morton got laid last night!"

"He did," Lemmy giggled. "Out back behind the boulder."

"He told me." Bowser beamed proudly.

"We saw it!" Iggy laughed, gyrating his hips while gripping an imaginary shell. "He was moaning more than she was! 'Oh, Sienna! I love you! You're gorgeous! Oh, Sienna! Oh, Sienna!' And then he cried!"

Lemmy sniffled, laughed, coughed and laughed some more. There was a tinge of sadness in it. His ClawBook profile had a string of laments about dates failing and people being jerks.

"Hey!" Bowser face-palmed. There were images he didn't want in his head. Hearing Ludwig was unsettling enough, this crossed the line. "Cool it, I don't need a demonstration."

"If we have to suffer with it, so do you!" Iggy grinned sadistically.

He swept onward into the kitchen and screeched loudly at Larry. "Incoming bacon eater!"

"You're not getting mine!" Larry grumbled, "I just sat down!"

"HAHAHA! Gimme!"

While it was nice to have his sons around, Bowser wasn't a fan of early morning bickering.

"Cover your ears, Lemmy. Larry, Iggy! Quit it!" He barked. "Just share, or ask Vivi to cook more!"

That put a stop to the fight over food.

Ludwig came downstairs with an empty plate and his phone in his hand. He looked so engrossed that he walked straight through without noticing anything beyond the confines of the screen. Bowser glimpsed a music writing app, so he knew Ludwig was floating through the world of music in his head. Hilariously, he made it all the way to the back door before he realized he still held a plate.

"Hey!" Iggy yelled. He waved at Ludwig to get his attention and signed, "Is that your music?"

"Yes," Ludwig answered out loud.

Iggy beckoned him over and took out his phone. He signed, "Look at this, I'm building a visualizer."

"I'm okay," whispered Lemmy. "Can we see Junior?"

Bowser patted his shell. "Sure, let's go downstairs."

But first, he rooted Lemmy's ear defenders out of the beanbag pile and gave them to him.

"How'd it feel to get used as a beach ball by Serrated?"

"It felt great!" Lemmy bounced up and down. He hit the button that turned his ear defender lights on and they cycled through every color of the rainbow. The effect wasn't as cool in a well-lit environment.

Once they arrived in the medical ward, Lemmy found Junior on his own. Junior was still asleep, so he hopped onto the gurney with him and curled up against his un-shelled back.

Bowser remembered how Lemmy climbed into Junior's nest to play with him when he was a tiny hatchling baby. He slipped his phone out and surreptitiously snapped a picture of them huddled together on the gurney.

Junior woke up with a loud yawn. "Who's on my back?"

"Me!" Lemmy wagged his tail. "You got stents?"

"Uh-huh."

"You're a cyborg now."

"I think I need mechanical or computer parts for it to count."

Bowser watched their playful bickering over what counted as a cyborg.

Later, he endured a twenty minute ass-chewing from Neil for leaving the medical ward.

It was worth it.

Junior got okayed to go back upstairs by lunchtime. Roy doled out pain relief meds and kept an eye on him while the last of the sedatives wore off.

Everybody else left after lunch. Bowser saw them out.

"Your majesty, please!" Neil pressed both hands over his face when Bowser came back in range of the angry heart monitor for the second time. "You're going to give me a heart attack!"

"I promise to behave now." Bowser sat on the mattress, crossed his arms and smirked. The day had him exhausted, but he hid it well. "When can I get out of here?"

He ended up spending the night downstairs to have his heart continuously monitored before Neil cleared him to leave.

Roy stayed an extra night and took care of Junior without being asked. He texted Bowser a funny photo of Junior sleeping gape-mouthed on the couch with his sunglasses sitting on his face.

.o

Five days after his hatch-day, Junior got a shock from Cherry.

"Whoa, your dad is letting you have me over?"

"Dad went on vacation with uncle Luigi. Mom is letting you come over, since she's the one I asked."

Junior swallowed, trying to ignore the weird butterflies in his stomach. It wasn't that he feared Mario. He worried about him finding out and never letting Cherry come outside to play ever again. She was his best friend, the thought of her being sent away forever was unbearably unthinkable!

His tail still ached from his procedure, though he didn't ask for pain pills as much. Neil said no rough play like racing Karts, wrestling around, running a lot, jumping onto or off of things or anything that made his tail thump into stuff, but visiting a friend wasn't any of those.

Bowser made Junior take a bath and comb his hair for this, which felt weird because he didn't care if he got dirty before! He went so far as to have his bandanna laundered, too!

"Make a good impression. Don't mess with the Toads and follow the rules. Royal protocol, got it?" Bowser said.

Junior wore his hair loose for once, because his horns stuck out far enough to keep it out of his eyes, so it tumbled behind his head like a long, floppy reddish-orange quiff.

Cherry had on a long red dress similar to Peach's, albeit with flat black shoes and her hair done up in a high ponytail behind her little gold tiara. So different from her other play clothes. Junior thought she looked pretty the way Peach was pretty, though he didn't dare say that out loud.

She led him through one last warp zone and they walked out onto the green Mushroom Castle courtyard. Junior hated feeling all the suspicious eyes watch him when he couldn't give them something mean to stare at.

"Somebody is gonna tell Mario I was here," Junior whispered.

"He can't do anything about it if it's done and over." Cherry smiled. "Why? Scared?"

"Wha— no, just…" Junior scrunched his face up. "You're right. He can't do anything."

Peach's castle was so different from his dad's. So much white and pink. All bright and cheerful, not dark and gloomy.

Cherry led him to the entrance by the hand and neither of the Toad guards stopped them. They eyed Junior the whole time, their eyebrows tilted in distrustful frowns. He stuck his tongue out at one.

The colors inside were just as airy as outside. The walls reminded Junior of the bright azure sky they just left behind. He didn't know what to think about the marble pink pillars or the gold crown molding along the ceiling.

A giant painting of Peach hung on the wall at Junior's left. The portrait showed her from the waist up, turned three-quarters and smiling at something just beyond the elaborate golden picture frame. No fancy background, just a misty dark gray, like a cloudy evening in early spring. The opposite wall held a similarly posed portrait of Mario, painted by the same artist. He smiled playfully with one hand clutching his left suspender. The background had more of a brownish tinge to it, like leaves late in autumn.

Cherry jogged up to her dad's painting and jokingly copied his pose. Junior laughed.

He scanned the walls for a painting of her, but didn't see one. She noticed his head swinging and said, "I'll get my painting when I'm eighteen. Seven years to go."

"Oh. I got mine when I was a baby! Dad has it in his room, though, with the baby paintings of my brothers and sister." Junior's eyes continued traveling over the unfamiliar space.

Tiny silver domes gleamed in the corners and on the ceiling. They blended so well into the decor that Junior suspected they housed security cameras.

"Wow." He stopped on a yellow sun pattern painted in the middle of the floor. Velvety red runners ran the length of staircases and provided pathways around the large foyer area. "Your castle is a maze, too?"

Cherry shook her head. "Not like yours. There's a hedge maze out back, though, but we can play there later. I want to show you my room first!"

She had his hand in a death grip like she feared him flying away if she let go. Her hands were tiny, but strong!

Junior's face heated at realizing how many guards saw Cherry towing him through the castle halls. She led him into a long side corridor, up a short staircase, up a spiral staircase and then up a long, straight staircase.

Gold sconces with dancing flames lined the walls between bright windows. Silver domes were situated at the top and bottom of the staircase, confirming Junior's suspicions about cameras.

"Whoa!" Cherry's foot slipped on the top step. She fell backwards against Junior's chest. "Um, heh, sorry…this step is kind of wiggly if you step on the wrong spot."

Junior tested it with his toe claws. The wood supports under the stone were weak on one side, causing it to tilt forward. "You should get it fixed. Somebody can twist an ankle or break their neck!"

"No kidding! I keep bugging people about it, but…" Cherry pushed off him, still holding onto his hand. "Come on."

Was it Junior's imagination, or did her cheeks flush deep pink?

Toad guards patrolled the halls, eyeballing Junior suspiciously between passes. He stared back at them.

"See the big pink door at the end of the hall? That's my parents' room. The red door over here is mine. The white one is the bathroom."

Cherry took him to the red door on the right and tugged him into her room. Shutting the door again, she released his hand and exhaled noisily.

"Finally!" She crossed the room and opened her window to let the spring breeze in. "Sorry about the hand. I wanted every guard who saw us to know I led you here, so nobody can say you grabbed me."

Junior looked down at his hand and wiggled his fingers before peering around Cherry's room. The walls were pale gold, and her bed on the left had a red and gold checkered quilt thrown over it. The rug under his feet was red with gold mushrooms embroidered among the elaborate filigree patterns. On the right, a wooden dresser with a vanity, a desk covered in schoolwork stuff and a basket for dirty clothes.

Looking up, he noticed two more silver domes— one above the window, and another above the door.

Black lines of tape stretched across the foot of Cherry's bed and the walls.

"What are those for?" Junior pointed.

Cherry walked over and stood behind the lines, smiling slyly. "The cameras can't see past these marks. It's the same in mom and dad's room, too. They wanted me to be able to have privacy if I want it."

Her closet was by the bed. The sliding doors were red.

"That's a lot of books." He gestured to the long bookshelves framing her bed. They doubled as nightstands. "Where are your toys?"

Cherry smiled and lifted a trapdoor near the window. "There!"

Everything was so organized! The toys sat in rolling crates she could pull out like drawers and open up.

Junior expected lots of dolls. She had some, as well as a toy tea set, but there were also crates of toy tools, cars and stuffed animals. His eyes went straight to the board games in a crate. He tapped on it gasping.

"You have Chutes and Ladders?"

"It's Pipes and Stairs, but yup! You have it at home?"

"Yeah! Can we play it?"

She got it out and set it up. The colorful number spinner and cardboard stand up characters were almost the same— the version Junior knew had different colored Koopa shells as pieces, but her game had Toads in different colored hats.

"Mom had me meet a prince from Sky Land early this morning, before dad left on vacation. It was so stuffy and boring! All I know is he's thirteen. I don't even remember his name."

Cherry flicked the spinner and moved her red Toad piece on the board.

"It's super awkward. We had breakfast together and talked. He was a pretty looking boy and he was so formal and polite, but we don't have anything in common."

"Oh." Junior hit the spinner and took a turn, which sent his green Toad piece down a small chute. "What did he look like?"

She shrugged, huffing through her nose. "His skin was paler than mom's and he had really long silver hair and gray eyes. They wear togas in Sky Land, so he, um…well I wondered if he was cold the whole time."

Junior giggled into his hands. "I bet I can beat him up."

"Don't you dare!" Cherry laughed. "Besides, I kind of did."

"What?"

"I arm wrestled him and won." She moved her piece again.

Junior snorted smoke. "Wow." He looked down at the board to count how many spaces he had to advance.

"I like you," she said. "You're fun."

He grinned, all teeth. "I forget you're a princess sometimes, 'cuz you're fun, too."

They fell into comfortable silence, each taking turns shifting their pieces.

Cherry spun the spinner and counted the last six spaces. "I win."

Junior dumped his piece next to hers. "Double win."

Their eyes met. They smiled.

"Does your dad make you meet princesses?" Cherry asked.

"Nah."

"Lucky."

"Why?"

"You don't get stuck in awkward breakfasts."

He laughed, holding his stomach.

One of the silver dome camera covers drew his eye. He caught his breath and pointed to one. "Hey, wanna mess with them?"

"How?" Cherry followed his gaze.

Junior jumped up and smacked his rear end in the direction of the door camera. He spun around to stick his tongue out at it.

"NEENER, NEENER, some bored Toad is watching me do this!"

"Junior, you're stepping on the board!" Cherry guffawed.

"Come on, be silly with me! Nyaaaa!" He made loud fart noises at the dome above the door.

Finally, Cherry jumped in front of him with her hands stuck up next to her ears like antlers.

They were both mid-spit when the door opened and Peach poked her head in.

Cherry shoved Junior back and they stopped.

"Um, hi," Junior put on his best innocent face.

"Hi, mom." Cherry's cheeks flushed several shades of red.

"I saw you two." Peach arched a brow.

"We were entertaining whoever sits in security!" Junior blurted out. "That's a boring job, isn't it?"

"I'm in a meeting with the ambassador from Desert Land. He saw you two doing that." Peach's frown became a bright smile. "You entertained a lot of people. Just…be careful when you do things like that. You never know who might get offended."

"That's their problem, since they want to be all stuffy and formal," Cherry muttered.

"Cherry," Peach smoothed Cherry's hair and kissed the side of her head. "My little troublemaker."

She smiled again, her eyes soft. "Tell you what. My meeting is almost over. Let's all meet in the hedge maze in twenty minutes. I know exactly how to help you two blast off some of that excess energy."

Junior and Cherry grinned at each other. Together, they shouted, "Deal!"

.o

" Peach, understand…I'm gonna love you 'til the very end! Peaches Peaches Peaches-Peaches Peaches Peaches Peaches Peaches-Peaches Peaches…I LOVE YOU! OOOH! PEACHES! PEACHES! PEACH! PEACH! PE— "

Bowser's phone buzzed. His fingers slipped off the piano keys in a discordant jumble.

Texts.

He might've given the surprise texter a piece of his mind if he didn't notice they were from Peach.

She sent a photo of Cherry and Junior sitting on Cherry's bedroom floor, playing a board game together. Junior was looking down at the piece he moved, but Cherry looked at him with familiar stars in her eyes.

Another photo showed Junior giving Cherry the same doe-eyed look while she was focused on the game spinner.

Bowser's heart swelled with pride. He couldn't help himself— he dialed the number Peach texted from. It rang and rang and rang for what seemed like forever before Peach's beautiful voice graced his ears.

"Bowser, texting you photos isn't an invitation to call me."

"Aw, it isn't?" Bowser heaved himself off the piano bench and crossed the room to straighten out his cello.

"No." She grumbled. "Hanging up n—"

"Wait! Nonono, no, wait! Peaches, I um…"

"You what?"

"I've been having heart issues lately."

"Another heart attack?"

"Uh, yeah, but there's this other one, too."

Her sigh sounded like wind. "What's wrong with your heart now?"

Bowser grinned, flashing his sharp teeth. "It beats out your name." He imitated the cadence of a heartbeat, "Peaches… Peaches… Can you hear it calling you?"

Peach laughed her musical laugh, and his heart dang near exploded on the spot.

"You're lovesick."

"Mmhmm, and you can cure it."

"Nope."

"You liked my singing. I heard you say that to Mario. Let me sing to you again. Any song you want."

"Goodbye, Bowser, I'm hanging up for real now."

"Peach—"

CLICK.

Bowser lowered the phone and stared at his reflection on the screen. His heart slowed its gallop. Inside his reflection, the thumbnail images of Junior and Cherry giving each other sneaky looks.

The future he felt kicking and screaming into existence was a promise glowing in their eyes.

.o

Bowser sat back on his throne, smiling as he listened to Junior excitedly recant his time at Peach's castle.

"…and she held my hand the whole way up to her room. Then we played Pipes 'n Stairs— that's their Chutes and Ladders. Peach came to see us, then we all played hide and seek in the hedge maze behind her castle. Then I watched Cherry run the training course. Don't worry, I told her I can't because of my angio thingie. But we had so much fun!"

Junior sat at Bowser's feet and fidgeted with his claws as he went on.

"Cherry hugged me before I left and said I'm the best friend she ever had. I said she's my best friend too and I hope we can be friends forever."

He sighed, rubbing at his loose hair until he messed it all up.

"Dad, she makes me feel funny."

The exact words Bowser hoped to hear. He leaned his cheek on his fist and crossed one ankle over his knee, his tail twitching by his hip. His other hand rested on a goblet half-full of strong, black Koopa wine. Behind him, the lit fireplace gave his hair an orange gleam and cast the shadow of his throne on the opposite wall.

"Funny how?" He asked.

"Well uh…I dunno." Junior rubbed at his chest. "My heart beat fast, and I got a weird feeling in my stomach because I thought she looked pretty all dressed up today."

He dropped his face into his palms. "It's embarrassing!"

"Nah," Bowser sipped from his goblet. The strong wine stung his nostrils and burned dryly down his throat. "It's part of growing up."

Junior reached for the goblet. "What'cha drinking?"

"Not something you want." But Bowser let him take it.

"Wanna bet?" Junior sipped and his face twisted. "Yuck! This is grosser than the beer at my party! Ack!"

Bowser laughed uproariously. "I warned you! BWAHAHA!"

Junior stuck his tongue out and scraped his claws across it. He looked hilarious trying to get the taste off.

"I'm gonna show Cherry your old castle when my tail gets better."

"The one down by the ocean?"

"Yup!"

"You better be careful. You know it floods when the tide comes in."

Bowser downed the last of the wine in a few gulps. Warmth suffused his nerves. His thoughts slowed their constant whirl.

Neil told him he shouldn't drink and take his nitroglycerin tablets, but screw him! He didn't need them right now and hadn't taken any that day.

Plus, he wasn't sloppy drunk! Just pleasantly buzzed!

"You're okay with me taking Cherry there?" Junior blinked, his beady little eyes gleaming hopefully in the firelight.

"It's not like the traps are active." Bowser shrugged, twirling the empty goblet between thumb and forefinger. "Can you both fit in your mini Koopa Clown Car?"

"I think so."

"Use that to get there. You'll be able to get out if the tide comes in."

Junior's face lit up. "That's a cool idea, dad! Yeah! I'll do that!" Then he pointed to Bowser's goblet. "Why do you drink stuff that tastes nasty?"

Bowser chuckled, setting the goblet aside. "It tastes bad because it's alcohol, and you're a kid who shouldn't drink it."

"I thought black Koopa wine was a wedding drink."

"It is, but I felt like having some."

"Uhh…isn't that bad for you if you're having heart problems?"

A little stung, Bowser peered at Junior from beneath his bushy eyebrows. "If you get stupid about it and drink the whole bottle, yeah. I'm having one glass. What's with the interrogation, kiddo?"

Junior raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "When's dinner?"

"What'cha want?"

"Can we have Birdo tapeworms?"

A half hour later, they sat at the kitchen table with plates of gray, flat, wiggling noodles as long as an adult Koopa's body.

Tapeworms were harmless to Birdos, they often came up with the eggs they spat out. Koopa stomach acid digested them and their larvae, so eating them didn't pose any danger. They could be served fried over something else, like an omelet, but they were juicy and satisfying when eaten alive with ketchup or olive oil.

Bowser cut the writhing mass on his plate into chunks. He lifted a wiggly piece to his mouth and slurped it off the fork. It burst between his teeth like a chewy Lima bean full of salty goo that blended well with the stinging ketchup.

"Hey, Junior."

"Mm?" Junior sucked a long bunch of worm segments into his mouth like a spaghetti noodle.

"You know that funny feeling you get around Cherry?"

"Yeah?" Junior belched without excusing himself. He was getting some depth into those burps, someday they would be monstrous!

Bowser snickered as he sipped his decaf cactus tea. "Don't be afraid of it."

"I'm not. Should I?"

"Uh…" Bowser looked at his plate, his fork and Junior. Smiling, he threw the fork backwards over his shoulder. "Forget table manners."

He bent over his plate and sucked up the whole tapeworm in one fell swoop, getting ketchup smeared everywhere like blood.

Junior cracked up. "Dad!"

"Manners are for stuffy losers, and we're not stuffy losers. Go for it, kiddo!"

Junior shoved his face into his messy food.

Moments later, there were two ketchup smeared faces cackling over empty plates. Cleanup took ages, ketchup loved to get into places not physically possible under normal circumstances, but it was so worth it.

Bowser wasn't finished being obnoxious yet.

He waited until after Junior went upstairs and picked up his Koopa phone. Thanks to a text from Iggy, he now had his hands on Mario's personal cell number.

A little prank call wouldn't hurt anybody.

Bowser dialed with his thumb. The line rang, and rang, and rang, and—

"Hello?" Mario's sleepy voice crackled through the other end. "Who's-a this?"

"Me." Bowser put him on speaker and unleashed a thunderous belch that scared a bunch of bats out the kitchen window.

"I heard that!" Junior shouted from his room.

"Vaffanculo!" Mario grumbled, "Testa di cazzo!"

Bowser didn't speak a lick of Italian, but he knew swearing when he heard it. He laughed so hard he never noticed Mario hanging up on him.

.o

Waiting for his tail to heal was beyond frustrating. Junior hated not being able to play rough. It wasn't as much of a problem when he was younger and his tail shorter.

"Why are you so annoying?" He accosted his tail in the bathroom one morning.

In the meantime, Cherry came over with a plastic bag full of wrinkly red peppers tipped in green stems.

"Uncle Luigi had extra peppers, so I stole some!"

"What's so special about them?" Junior gave her a hand up out of the warp pipe.

"They're Carolina Reapers, they're supposed to be the hottest peppers in the whole outside-outside world! I can't eat them."

"What about your parents?"

"Dad loves them, mom doesn't. Uncle Luigi and Auntie Daisy make sauce out of them."

"And now you want to see if me and my dad can handle 'em?" Junior grinned.

Her sheepish smile said it all. She wasn't dressed up all fancy this time, just a red short sleeved shirt and blue overall shorts with strapped brown shoes. Mary Janes, she called them.

They climbed up the side of the rocky cliff together. Cherry wiped her hair off her sweaty face at the top.

"Why are they called Carolina Reapers?" Asked Junior.

"I dunno, they're from Carolina?"

The Hammer Brothers guarding the entrance saluted. Cherry saluted back. She didn't know it, but everyone in the castle was under Bowser's orders to treat her and protect her like a member of the family.

Faint cello music filtered warmly down the stairs. From the sound of it, his dad was working on the melodic line for the song he made up about Peach.

Junior held a finger up in front of his mouth and led Cherry upstairs to the first door in the hall. It used to be Ludwig's bedroom.

The door was ajar. Junior saw Bowser in profile, sitting hunched over the cello while pulling the bow across the strings. His left hand daintily balanced the neck and his fingertips glided against the fingerboard. He played a warm, legato series of notes without pausing in between.

Bowser seemed his most content when making music of some kind, be it singing or playing an instrument. Judging by the smile on his face, he envisioned his wedding to Peach.

Junior led Cherry a few steps aside, out of sight. It didn't feel right interrupting his dad's peaceful moment.

"He's so good," whispered Cherry.

"I know," Junior whispered back.

"Do you play anything?"

"Not like he does. You?"

"I'm taking piano lessons." She shrugged.

The cello fell silent.

"Do I hear kids lurking outside my door?"

"No, we're ghosts." Junior stuck his head around the corner and grinned. "Cherry brought hot peppers."

Bowser set the cello aside and put the bow on the bookshelf next to it. "Peppers?"

"Carolina Reapers." Cherry stepped around the corner and held up the bag. "The hottest ones in outside-outside. Uncle Luigi knows a guy named Angelo who grows them. I can't eat them, they're too spicy for me."

"She wants to see if we can." Junior bounced to her side, careful to keep his tail from smacking too hard on the floor.

"I never met a pepper I can't eat." Bowser stuck his huge hand out. "Gimme a few."

Cherry dropped three onto his palm. She gave Junior one.

Junior looked up at Bowser. They both counted to three on their fingers and palmed the peppers.

"Ooh!" Junior's mouth was instantly awash with fiery lava. The more he chewed, the hotter it got! He pressed a hand over his snout, his eyes watering. "Wow!"

Bowser chewed, his only reaction a bit of tearing in both eyes. "Tastes kind of sweet."

"Does it burn at all?" Cherry stared at him, incredulous.

"Oh, yeah! It's burning real good." He swallowed, took one more from the bag and threw it in his mouth.

Junior coughed at the heat crawling down his throat. "Whoa. That hurts."

Bowser took another one. "Mario can eat these?"

Cherry nodded. "Only two, then he says it hurts too much."

Grinning, Bowser emptied the bag into his jaws. Barely any reaction as he chewed, just the tearing in his eyes. Finally, after swallowing, he exhaled and coughed into his closed fist.

"Tell that wuss that I ate the whole bag. Now here's the cool part."

He beckoned with his finger as he got up and headed downstairs. Nothing about his movements were hurried or pained.

Bowser stepped outside onto the drawbridge and blasted a blue flame straight up into the air. It reminded Junior of the Godzilla poster he saw four years ago.

Cherry recorded the whole thing on her phone.

"Whoa!" She laughed, "Seriously?"

"WOO!" Bowser roared and wiped his mouth. "Am I cool, or am I cool?" He plucked the phone out of Cherry's hand. "Suck it, Mario! BWAHAHAHA!"

Cherry gaped when Bowser returned her phone to her and swept past to go back upstairs. Junior doubled forward, laughing so hard he drooled on the ground.

"I dare you to show that to your dad," he cackled.

"I think I will." She giggled, "He's going to be mad."

"So what?"

"I know!"

The next day, Junior was about to jump down the warp pipe when Cherry popped up. She smiled sheepishly.

"My dad was mad about what I did, but he said to tell Bowser his fire was impressive."

"Are you in trouble?"

"Kind of. I snuck out to tell you, so I have to go back home. See you in a week?"

Junior grinned. "Sure. It was worth it."

"Oh, totally."

They laughed.

"Hey," Junior touched his index claws together, his face heating up. "Am I really your bestest best friend?"

Cherry poked the end of his nose. She batted her big blue eyes, smiling. "No, Junior, you silly! You're my most mega bestest bestest best friend."

He beamed and hoped she didn't hear his heart hammering away. "Cool, 'cuz you're mine too. My most mega ultra bestest bestest most bestest friend in the world."

Clasping his hands in hers, she whispered, "Let's be that forever."

"Y-yeah, forever and ever." He squeezed her fingers as gently as he could and let go.

Cherry waved and dove down the pipe.

Junior stared at his hands when the warmth from hers evaporated into the volcanic heat. The tight feeling in his stomach threatened to run him over.

He leapt up and down, chanting, "CHERRY IS MY MOST MEGA ULTRA BESTEST BESTEST MOST BESTEST FRIEND!"

"Augh, shut up!" Yelled someone inside the castle.

.o

Early morning phone calls were a bane, but Bowser always answered when his kids popped up on the caller ID.

"Hi, darling!" Bowser tried not to sound husky like he only woke up five seconds ago.

"Daddy!" Wendy sniffed on the other end, "I know it's early, but…this castle! It's hideous! Simm said it's a traditional interior, but he flipped it! Nothing is authentic!"

Sitting up, Bowser yawned and scraped a hand through his hair. "That bad, huh?"

"You paid for it, too!" Her bracelets jangled when she gesticulated wildly on the other end. "He ripped you off, daddy! The bastard!"

"Hey, hey, Wendy, shhh, calm down."

"But—"

He grinned. "Daddy fixes everything, remember? I'll fix this and get you the castle you want. What are the coordinates?"

"I'll text them."

"Great. Call that loser up and tell him to meet you at the property at ten o'clock to hash this out."

"You're gonna negotiate?" She was incredulous.

He grinned cruelly, eyes gleaming. "Yeah, let's call it that. See you then?"

"See you then, daddy. Bye."

"Bye, sweetie."

Bowser hung up and immediately dialed Capaldi.

Four hours later, he rode his Koopa Clown Car down onto a hill where Wendy and Simm waited for him. The offensive castle loomed against the horizon, looking more like something from the Mushroom Kingdom than a Koopa dwelling.

That wasn't what the listing described. Those pastel bricks? Hideous.

Simm was a long, shifty Cobrat with a slick yellow ponytail and thick, square white-framed glasses that didn't flatter his face. He used the tip of his tail to push them up on his snout.

"Ahh, your most royal, wonderful majesty!" The landowner curled forward in a sycophantic bow. "To what do I owe the honor?"

Wendy crossed her arms and scowled at him.

Bowser took his sweet time giving his dear daughter a 'dad-is-here-to-help' hug. Wendy melted right into it.

She liked the sunnier area. The brown and green hills were a lovely sight.

Except for that damn ugly castle.

"My daughter is upset," said Bowser. He brought the SOLD listing up on his phone. "Now, seeing as you're the master of this land…" His voice chilled, "…does this description match what you see?"

Simm squinted at the screen. His forked tongue flicked nervously. "I…exaggerated a little bit, I admit."

"And you think this slight exaggeration is worth nine hundred million coins and an upset lady?" Bowser puffed smoke through his nostrils and leaned into Simm's personal space. "Hm?"

"Well, I— uh, well," Simm coughed from the smoke and trembled under Bowser's unblinking stare. "W-what can we do to settle this, s-sir?"

"That's what I want to know," Wendy snapped, also staring him down. "How long is fixing this travesty going to take?"

Simm's head whipped from one wrathful face to the other. He grinned, coiling his tail end underneath himself. "I'm willing to negotiate. It took me five years to build that castle."

Bowser smirked at that information. His eyebrows arched as he straightened, chin held between thumb and forefinger.

"Five years to build? What about remodeling?"

"That was three years."

"So, eight years total?"

"Yes, sir!"

Wendy rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue in disgust. "You have three year old pictures on the listing."

"It's a mistake, ma'am, I can assure you!"

Bowser inhaled deeply. "In that case, I have a message for you."

"Daddy?" Wendy uncrossed her arms.

He swiped the browser off, speed-dialed Capaldi's number and put the phone on speaker.

"Capaldi here!"

"Bring the rain," Bowser said.

"As you wish, sire."

Bowser hung up and smirked, crossing his arms.

Wendy caught the look in his eye and a cold, nasty grin spread across her face. "Did you?"

"I did."

"What? What's happening?" Simm spun to look up at Bowser.

"I'm sending a message."

Behind him, the stone replica of his face descended through the clouds, the first thing everyone always saw of his enormous airship. The floating vessel parked itself barely a hundred feet above the eyesore of a castle.

Bowser saw this a million times, so he kept his back to the castle and stared at Simm instead.

A resounding boom shook the land. Then another, and another, and another. Bob-ombs rained from the airship in a deluge of bone-shaking explosions.

"No! NO! What are you doing?" Simm shrieked. He wailed, tears pouring off his snout. "My life's work! No!"

Bowser stepped on his tail to stop him from slithering away. He threw his head back and cackled at the sobbing Cobrat.

"Sucks to suck, doesn't it? BWAHAHAHA!"

Flames illuminated him from behind while he laughed.

The bombardment continued. Glass shattered. Turrets broke loose. Rooms caved in.

"Wow!" Wendy beamed. A happy lady, just what Bowser loved to see.

Finally, the loudest ka-BOOM-boom-BOOM as a Banzai Bill smashed into the wounded castle, blowing it to smithereens.

An echoing rumble reverberated off the hills. Silence followed, the deathly quiet of a fresh battlefield. Shrapnel lay everywhere, filling the air with pungent hot metal. Smoke turned the sunlight crimson.

What used to be a castle was a burnt crater in the ground.

Wendy cupped a hand over her mouth.

Bowser stopped laughing abruptly and took his foot off Simm's tail. "Do I need to repeat myself?"

Simm wrapped the end of his tail over his glasses, still weeping pitifully.

"Okay, you slithering piss puppet," Bowser spat at him, "Pay me nine hundred million coins, and I'll send you the manpower and materials to build my daughter the castle she deserves. Deal?"

He held the phone in Simm's reach with the bank app open. The crying Cobrat closed the deal with a tap of his tail.

Bowser turned to Wendy next.

He winked.

"Build whatever you want, sweetie."

Wendy threw her arms around his neck and dangled off him when he stood up straighter. The absolute joy in her eyes pleased him. She was his only girl, he had to spoil her.

"Thanks, daddy." Wendy kissed his cheek.

He chuckled, wrapping an arm around her to hold her close. She took a selfie of them with the devastation in the background and posted it on her ClawBook account.

Her caption read: Daddy makes everything better!

Beside them, smoke continued to rise and blanket the sky.

.o

Gray clouds parted, revealing ocean surf.

Junior had to reach around Cherry to steer the mini Koopa Clown Car, but she didn't appear to mind.

Contrary to what most people believed, the Darklands weren't called that because of the sky. They got their name from all the sand and soil being shades of dark brown, red, gray or black.

Hot, humid wind blew Junior's topknot ponytail backwards as he brought his mini Koopa Clown Car down near the ruins of an old castle set in ocean cliffs.

Smog from the volcano didn't darken the sky much here. Shafts of sunlight spotlighted the eroded old castle. The tide hadn't come in yet, so the stone replica of Bowser's face wasn't submerged under sea foam.

"Wow." Cherry tapped excitedly on Junior's hands. "It's so big!"

"It's taller than the other castle, but the other castle is wider than this."

Junior squinted, working the control stick carefully to avoid jagged outcroppings. He set the mini Koopa Clown Car on the remains of a tower that wasn't stained by seawater. If it was dry, it wasn't in danger of being hit by the tide coming in.

Yesterday, he told Cherry to wear clothes she didn't mind getting wet. Today, she showed up wearing a frilly, clingy red thing called a "bathing suit" with dark blue shorts and strapped brown sandals that buckled around her ankles. Her hair was rolled into pigtails, just like they were when they first met. Over her shoulders, she carried a pink waterproof plastic backpack holding towels, bottled water, her cell phone and greasy sunscreen stuff.

Because, apparently, human skin burned if they spent too long in the sun. They were weird.

Junior breathed in the salty air as wrathful waves slammed into the cliffside. Weather reports mentioned a storm making the water choppy, but nobody said anything about it coming onshore. The horizon over the white-capped ocean looked ominous and dark with ragged, swirling clouds.

"It's not underwater!" Junior pointed. "We can climb down and go in the front entrance like Mario used to."

"Cool! I'm game." Cherry hefted her backpack with a bright smile. "Let's go!"

Laughing, they vaulted out of the mini Koopa Clown Car and jumped down various outcroppings until they landed on the black sand below. The surf charged at their feet.

"Geez," whispered Cherry. "How many castles does he have?"

"There were eight, but the other seven were just fortresses. They got demolished a long time ago."

Seawater gurgled into what used to be underground lava pits. Junior wasn't sure if the sconces still had oil in them or not, so he spat a stream of flame blindly at the dim, damp walls.

"Yikes!" Cherry ducked aside, "A little warning, next time?"

The sconces lit! Junior had to blast the walls three times to get all of them, but they hissed to life.

"Sorry."

Firelight illuminated a damaged painting depicting Bowser in profile, spitting flames at something unseen. There were paintings like that all over the castle, so it wasn't anything new to Junior.

But Cherry gasped. "Is he showing what I think he is?"

"Yup." Junior laughed, "You didn't see the ones in the hallways at my place?"

"I didn't see that part of him." She tilted her head. "Why is he showing that?"

"It's how Koopas show we're tough in artwork." He shrugged. "We don't stick it out on an actual battlefield. Don't humans do it?"

"Um, no, we like to keep that private." She turned to look Junior up and down. "Where do you keep something like that?"

"My vent, like everybody else." Junior picked his leg up and pointed to the slit denoting where his plastron ended and his tail began.

"Oh. You don't wear clothes. Oh!" Cherry covered her face and giggled. "I forgot."

"Humans are weird." Junior laughed.

He led her past the painting and into a partly-collapsed room full of crumbling gray Bowser statues. Eerie sunbeams illuminated them through the holes in the ceiling. Their eyes seemed to watch everything that walked by.

"Those used to shoot lasers. Mario broke the lenses so they can't anymore."

Their feet tapped on the black and white tiled floor. It was glossy and smooth, once, but now it felt gritty and rough.

Junior pointed to a dusty brown sphere amid the bricks overhead. "That used to project a roto-disk, but I don't remember what happened if the beam hit somebody."

Cherry jumped up and slapped it with her hand. The crystal emitted a hollow ping. "Dad said it knocked the Fire Flower power out of him when he got hit, and the second time it took the Mushroom strength away. He doesn't like to think about what another hit might do."

Outside, the ocean roared. Water gurgled somewhere under the floor. Salty sea smells wafted up through grates in the walls.

"Oh! Cool!" Cherry took a running leap ahead and ground-pounded the only glowing question mark box sticking off a crumbling overhang.

A brown, dried out Fire Flower dropped onto the dingy floor.

Junior puffed on it with his flame breath as Cherry hopped down next to him. The dead plant burned into ash.

"What?" Junior gesticulated between the ashes and Cherry's aghast face. "It's a Fire Flower, I thought it would help!"

She face-palmed and laughed. "I was thinking the same thing."

Thunder cut their guffawing short. They blinked at each other.

Junior gestured towards the far end of the corridor. "Want to keep going?"

She nodded, kicking her foot through the Fire Flower ash to disperse it.

Thunder rumbled again as they climbed stairs lined by cracked Bowser statues. Junior saw the lens in one of their mouths glow. He shoved Cherry ahead. A laser beam sliced the step inches behind his tail.

"Whoa!" Cherry recaptured her footing.

"I guess that one still works. Oops."

"How come it shot at us?"

"Motion sensors."

"Creepy."

They rushed past several defunct roto-disk crystals and shoved into a room full of rusted orange donut platforms. Seawater frothed in the chasm where lava used to be. Already, it lapped over the edges onto the floor.

The tide was early due to the approaching storm. Junior didn't tell Cherry that. No sense freaking her out.

Yet.

"We have to cross the platforms. You can jump these, right?"

"Duh. I do it on mom's training course all the time."

"Yeah, but these are really far apart. Lemme test them first. Dad said some might be broken."

Junior didn't wait for her reply. He took a running leap onto the first donut block. The ones in his dad's castles operated on gear mechanisms that caused them to drop whenever anything weighted touched the top.

It didn't so much as light up or tick.

Junior jumped from one to the next, stomping on each one to ensure they didn't activate. He did a few flips and handstands, showing off.

Only one block ticked when he landed on it, right before the final leap onto the opposite platform. The donut block dropped as he jumped and returned to its original position by the time he turned around.

"Looks like we're good. Go for it, Cherry!"

Cherry did an awesome leap and wall-run to land on the first platform. Her footsteps pounded over the metal blocks as she leapt, twirled, vaulted and skidded. The last jump nearly failed when the block dropped, but she recovered via a desperate wall run and front flip.

Junior steadied her so she wouldn't crash into the steps. "Nice jumping."

She adjusted the straps on her backpack and ducked her head, face almost as red as her bathing suit. "Thanks, I almost bit it back there."

He grinned. "It's slippery in here."

Thunder rumbled a lot closer than before. Junior felt it in his bones. Churning water kept rising, some lapping at their feet.

"It's getting windy out there. Hear that?" Cherry looked up. The ceiling had a few holes revealing cloudy skies. Wind whistled across them, a ghostly howl.

"We're almost there."

Junior led her up the steps and threw his weight against the heavy steel door at the top. The old thing gave way with a mournful groan.

Cold wind blew through the vast room. Junior spat flames to light the two enormous, spiral-shaped torches by the walls. The oil in them caught fire and whooshed to life with an unsettling gold ambience.

The left side of the wooden floor still had the hole where Bowser fell through.

"Oh, neat!" Cherry walked right up to it. Old, damp planks creaked under her feet. "This is where my dad used fireballs to weaken the floor. He tricked your dad into jumping here, and he fell through."

Junior beckoned her away from the edge. The wood wasn't in good shape over there and he didn't know what was below.

"My dad broke his tail when he fell. He managed to duck into his shell, but didn't get his tail inside in time, so…" He used his hands to mime Bowser's long fall and smacked them together for the impact. "…he landed on it. The pain knocked him out and he had to wear a cast on his tail for a long time. Gosh, that's when my brothers and sister were still kids."

"Mom and dad got married after that happened." Cherry sighed. "Then they had me."

Grit rained down on them, followed by a breeze. Junior wiped it off his head.

"C'mon." He took her across the room to the next heavy door, the cell where Peach was kept. Almost no ceiling existed and most of the creaky floorboards were loose or unsteady. They stopped halfway across the room because the floor didn't feel safe.

Cherry nudged him and smiled. "Hey, how about you pretend you're a prince captured by Bowser, and I'm here to rescue you."

"Shouldn't it be me rescuing you?"

"Why do it that way? It'll be fun my way." She gave him her backpack, pulled the heavy cell door shut and grinned at him through the bars. "Don't go anywhere!"

"Cherry!" Junior hung her backpack on a loose nail by the door and fell into the make-believe with her. "Help! He's got me! Aaah!"

He jumped around inside the door, the floorboards wobbling underneath him.

"Don't worry, I'll beat him up!" Cherry ran to the middle of the room and kicked an invisible attacker. "Hyah! Take that!"

The floor shook. A booming roar sounded above as Bowser dropped through a hole in the ceiling to land in a crouch next to Cherry. He looked between Junior and Cherry, a playful smile alighting his face.

"So I captured a little prince, huh? BWAHAHA!" Bowser spread his arms and laughed. "How about a more authentic experience?"

"Dad!" Junior yelled.

Bowser grinned over his shoulder, "Pipe down, prisoner!"

He bounced on his haunches and spat small fireballs at Cherry, hardly more than smoke and embers. She dodged them easily, her pigtails flying up behind her head.

"I'll get you, Bowser!" Cherry charged at him.

"Ha!" Bowser caught her and tossed her aside. A gentle throw, nowhere near his full strength. "Is that all you've got?"

Cherry landed on her feet, shoes skidding against the floor.

"Help, help!" Junior hollered between giggle fits.

"I'll save you!" Cherry bolted at Bowser again.

Except, that time, she dropped to slide feet first under his legs, rolled upright and jumped up onto his head.

"Ow! She got me! Ooh! Ack! I'm dead!" Bowser retreated into his spiked shell while she stood on top of it, victorious.

Giggling, Cherry leapt off Bowser's shell and approached the metal cell door.

"Oh, sorry, your princess is in another castle," Junior snorted.

"You goof." She tugged the door open on its squeaky hinges. "You've been rescued."

"My hero!" Junior wailed dramatically, waving his arms. "I've been stuck in here for a million years!"

They clasped hands and guffawed.

.o

Bowser emerged from his shell to watch Cherry and Junior chatter inside the old metal door. Surprising them in the middle of their make-believe scenario ended up being more fun than he expected it to be.

Junior and Cherry exchanged awkward, shy smiles. Their conversation remained inaudible. Then Cherry tapped her cheek.

"That's what happens after a rescue," she said.

Junior's face turned almost purple. He blinked, leaned in and kissed her cheek. She clapped a hand over the spot and smiled.

Bowser pretended to be dusting himself off and totally not watching when Cherry glanced in his direction.

"C'mon, kiddos." He pointed up with his thumb. "The storm took a turn and it's going to hit soon. Let's get out of here."

"Sure, I'm ready to—"

One second Cherry and Junior were there, and the next, they weren't.

"Cherry!" Junior shrieked.

Only one splash, not far below. She didn't scream until she hit the water. The sound came from the hole next to Bowser.

Bowser crossed the distance in a blink. Junior clutched a crumbling wooden beam with both hands, his eyes huge and pleading.

"Dad!"

Bowser crouched on the threshold. He gripped the metal doorframe and stretched his other hand out.

"Swing over!"

Junior kicked his feet and thrashed his tail. He managed it in one strong heave. Bowser snatched him up and set him outside the door, handing him Cherry's backpack in the same motion.

"I'll get Cherry."

"Dad!"

"Don't argue! You're too small to swim against this. Get topside. I can get her out!"

Junior held the backpack straps in his teeth and began the long climb up the inside of the tower wall.

"Cherry!" Bowser shouted into the jagged opening.

"I'm here!" She coughed, "I can't hold on much longer!"

He barely made out her head bobbing in the swirling maelstrom. She lost her grip on the wood she used as a floatation device and dipped under.

"I'll be right there!"

Bowser bounded into the main room on all fours and dove headfirst through the larger hole. The water below wasn't shockingly cold, but it crashed into his face sooner than he expected. Everything disappeared into a deep rumble and popped back to normal when his head broke the surface.

Currents pulled him in every direction, including downward. A tiny kid like Cherry had no hope against the swirling froth. She didn't try to wipe her wet bangs out of her face when she resurfaced across the room from him. Her hands and feet moved like she climbed an invisible ladder.

"Cherry!" Bowser swam towards her, batting away broken wood chunks.

Cherry didn't answer. She sank under the foam.

He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her close, keeping her head above the choppy surface. Panicked, she tried to climb him as she gasped greedily for air. A smaller person like Junior would've been shoved underwater by her desperate scrambling.

"Cherry! Hey. Hey! You're fine!" Bowser spat out water and wiped his wet hair backwards out of his eyes. The salty seawater stung his nostrils. "I know the way out. Listen."

"I don't wanna drown!" She coughed.

"You won't."

"I'm scared!"

"It's okay. Shhh, Cherry. Cherry? Listen. Hey. It's going to be okay. Breathe. We're fine. I've got you."

He modeled the calm he hoped to impart. Not easy with water surging around them. This chamber was going to be submerged in less than five minutes.

"How do we get out?" She panted.

"I know a way. I'm going to take my shell off and use it as a diving bell. All you have to do is hang on, kick and keep it from tipping so you don't lose your air. I'll do the rest."

Her breathing slowed to a calmer pace. "Won't you drown?"

He chuckled. "Nah. A Koopa can hold their breath for five minutes. Getting out will take three. I'll be fine."

Confidence was contagious. Cherry accepted it.

She nodded. "Let's do it."

Bowser worked his shell off by tugging on the top while shrugging his shoulders. It naturally wanted to float like a capsized canoe. The spikes scraped the ceiling. They were running out of time.

"Okay, get underneath."

"I'm still scared," she whispered.

In a less serious situation, Bowser would've rolled his eyes in frustration.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you." He spoke gently, like he did to his own kids when they got scared. "We'll get out of this. Work with me."

Screwing his face up like he ate a lemon, he added, "Be brave like your dad."

Cherry nodded. She plugged her nose and ducked under the shell. He knew she made it into position when she spluttered and splashed.

Bowser took three deep breaths, grasped the edges of his shell and plunged under the surging water. The only sounds were a deep rumble and his own booming heartbeat.

Between the darkness and murk, visibility was almost nil. But he knew the way by heart. Knowing his castles by feel and memory let him cut the lights on opponents.

At least, any opponent that wasn't Mario.

Sans his shell, Bowser moved through the water like a crocodile, his powerful legs and tail easily parrying the current he swam against.

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, below a grating and above a fallen pillar. Then straight ahead. Easy in theory, harder to actually do.

Cherry breathed in spluttering spurts and the shell vibrated from her movements. Her kicking helped more than she realized.

Bowser's lungs started to burn halfway through the fourth twist around a bend. He grimaced. There was nowhere to surface and he didn't dare stop to rest.

A surprise surge flipped the shell over, ripping away Cherry's air bubble and almost sending him spinning. He snatched her flailing little body, clamped a hand over her face to seal her nose and mouth, and lurched forward.

The current slapped his shell onto his back by sheer luck. Its added weight gave him an advantage against the incoming current. He grabbed the edge of a grate and hauled himself through. Creation itself tried to push him backwards, but he refused to relent.

Cherry squirmed, trying to pull his fingers off her face. His whole body screamed for air. Bubbles escaped his nose and mouth and his pounding heart boomed in his ears.

It would be so easy to exhale and gasp a lungful of water. So easy to die. An irrational corner of his mind thought that was a good idea. Fortunately, the rational part of him shouted louder.

There was no room for panic here. If he exhaled slowly, he wouldn't inhale. He had to control himself and get Cherry out before she suffocated.

Kick, kick, kick, his only thoughts.

Dim light ahead, the final stretch. Lightning illuminated the blurry green gloom.

Bowser's lungs ran empty. Cherry writhed in his grasp, desperate to breathe.

We aren't going to die here! I won't allow it!

He put his all into a final kick towards the green glimmer.

They broke the surface near the remains of an old sewer grate. The sea roiled around them in a tenebrous rage, its hissing roar only sound louder than their gasping.

Bowser cradled Cherry protectively against his chest. He coughed as hard as she did while wading out of the water to crouch on the rocks.

Swimming like that after three heart attacks. You stooge, you almost drowned! He berated himself, though he wouldn't let Cherry know how close that was.

"Cherry!" Bowser gasped for breath, chest heaving. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said faintly, clinging to him.

Then she burst into tears, burying her face under his chin. Ironically, it started to pour. Hot, tropical Darklands coastal rain. Sometimes the falling water reached the boiling point!

"It's okay. We're fine." He coughed again and cupped the back of her head. "I, um…I know that was scary."

"So scary," she sniffled. "Way too close."

Bowser lowered his head, shielding her partly from view while she wept.

This was Mario's daughter in his arms. It hit him that he cared about her like one of his own. Thirty years ago, he would've killed her without a thought regardless of who her parents were.

But he wasn't a parent himself yet. It took becoming one to understand true sacrifice.

Cherry regained control of her shaken emotions. She wiped her nose on her forearm and cleared her throat.

"Dad!" Junior called over a turret. "Dad, where are you?"

Bowser blasted a stream of fire straight up.

"Okay, I see you! I'm coming down!" Junior's voice echoed.

Bowser let go of his flames as his breathing finally returned to normal.

"Am I in trouble?" Cherry sniffled.

"What? No! You didn't do it on purpose." He patted her back. "We got out alive, that's what matters. Why? Is Mario gonna yell at you?"

"No, but…"

"He tells you stories about how I'm cruel and nasty, doesn't he?"

"Everybody does, but you're not like that to me. You're nice to me and you seem so cool."

He grinned, all sharp teeth and gleaming eyes. "Ah, Cherry, everybody's right. I am totally cruel and nasty when people act like wussies who deserve it. You aren't a wuss who deserves my wrath. That's why you don't see it."

She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him. "I don't know who's right."

"I won't tell you who to believe. That's up to you." Bowser set her down as Junior clambered onto the beach.

Cherry glanced up at Bowser and raced towards Junior. They caught each other in a hug like the ocean crashing ashore.

Pain squeezed Bowser's chest. It didn't have the blinding stab of a heart attack, but it stole his breath. He sat down despite the rising surf lapping at his legs and breathed until the pang went away.

"Dad?" Junior gazed at him, forehead wrinkled.

"I'm fine." Bowser exhaled noisily, his wet hair clinging to his head and horns. "Just catching my breath."

Cherry dug her towel out of her backpack and wrapped herself up in it. Just in time for the rain to get worse.

"C'mon." Bowser rounded them up. "Let's get out of here. The Koopa Clown Car is up that hill."

Junior started, "What about—"

"I picked yours up. It's on the airship."

The rain fell heavier, and lightning zapped overhead. Bowser felt that thunder in his chest.

They sprinted up the hill, heedless of the sand stuck to them. Bowser piled everyone into the Koopa Clown Car and took off due east to meet the airship.

.o

Junior sat next to Cherry on the airship exam table while she waited for Amy to check her over. He wanted to laugh when Cherry shrank slightly back from doctor Amy. Amy was a tall, pale Koopa Troopa with ice blue eyes matching her polished shell.

She gave Bowser the stink-eye as soon as she picked up her purple stethoscope in her delicate hand

"I hope you aren't having another heart attack."

"Nah! This isn't a visit for me." Bowser vented smoke through his nostrils. "But we had a, uh, mishap with water. Can you make sure Princess Cherry is okay?"

"I feel fine," Cherry whispered.

"Do you think you inhaled any while going under?" Amy asked, her demeanor businesslike.

Cherry shrugged. "I choked on some, but I coughed a lot."

"Any trouble breathing?"

"No."

"Hm. I'll have a listen, just to satisfy that one." Amy nodded her head in Bowser's direction.

Junior snickered. Amy could be meaner than Wendy sometimes, she had no patience for people who hurt themselves doing ridiculous stuff.

Cherry jumped at the first touch of the stethoscope. Amy shifted it around, telling her to breathe in and out every so often.

"You're cranky today," Bowser muttered.

"The coffee maker broke." Amy arched a brow ridge. "I'm not overly familiar with human anatomy, but I know clear lungs when I hear them. This princess has perfectly clear lungs."

She looked at Cherry, her demeanor softening a few degrees. "Your heart sounds good, too."

"She's a coffee fiend," Junior whispered in Cherry's ear.

Cherry's shoulders relaxed. "Thank you, doctor. Um, I'm sorry about your coffee maker. I hope it gets fixed."

"Bah. I need coffee to bring me to life." Amy cracked her first smile since she walked in. "Keep warm and take it easy. You're fine."

"Ooh! Do me?" Junior pointed to his chest. "How does mine sound?"

The stethoscope was cold.

Amy listened for a moment. "Hm, sounds good. I hear the Crash click Neil had in his notes."

She turned to Bowser, startling him with the cold stethoscope. "Your heart rate is elevated. Did you strain yourself?"

"Uhh, kinda!" Bowser took a deep breath. "I guess I was nervous about the kids being okay."

"It went down. Good." Amy draped the stethoscope across the back of her neck. "Keep warm and calm and you'll all be fine."

She wrote something on a clipboard, stuck it in the tray bolted to the door and walked out. "Capaldi, is my coffee ready yet?"

Bowser scrunched his face up at her retreating back.

Junior snickered at his dad's indignant frown. He looked over at Cherry when she shivered. "Cold?"

Cherry nodded, wiping her messy wet braids backwards off her shoulders. "It was really scary."

"My dad got you out, though."

Bowser ushered them out of the exam room and up the hallway into his personal onboard quarters. Nothing fancy, just a bed, an adjacent bathroom and mini-fridge. He turned the heating vent above the bed on and aimed it at Cherry.

"Here, sit right there and you'll warm up. I'll rustle up something hot to drink."

"Do you have hot chocolate here?"

"Oh, yeah! Tons! What do you like in it? Whipped cream? Marshmallows?"

"Both." Cherry smiled.

"Coming right up."

Bowser's footsteps thudded away.

Junior sat next to her on the floor. The heat felt nice, but he wanted to make sure she got the brunt of it.

"What's a Crash heart?" She asked.

Boy, what a subject to bring up. Junior cracked his knuckles and explained.

Bowser came back with the hot chocolate, caught on to the conversation and filled in the gaps Junior missed.

"Geez!" Cherry sipped her hot chocolate. She looked up at Bowser, her eyes brimming with tears. "Does that mean you'll die?"

Bowser's face scrunched up in a way Junior hadn't seen him do before. His eyes were sad, his brow furrowed and he grimaced, a cross between smelling a bad stink and eating something sour. "No, not anytime soon."

Cherry focused on Junior. "What about you?"

"Nah! I got stents so I won't."

She closed her eyes, drank more hot chocolate and wiped whipped cream off the end of her nose. "Good, I'll be sad if that happens to either of you."

.o

The trip home proved uneventful. Bowser, Cherry and Junior warmed up along the way.

Once inside the castle, he got Cherry and Junior set up in the living room by the roaring fireplace with huge, warm towels. They were mostly dry, but still! Humans had fragile bodies, they got sick so easily and didn't resist temperature extremes as well as Koopas.

He was on his way through the dining room when he spotted a recent text from Ludwig on his tablet.

It's finished. Message me when it's okay and I'll warp over.

Bowser tapped his passcode and replied, Just got in. Bring it!

It took ten minutes for Ludwig to show up with his forgotten rainbow pencil stuck in his hair like a unicorn horn. He found it himself and tucked it in the folder under his arm.

"What's going on?" Junior shouted into the hall.

"Ludwig is stopping by." Bowser gestured at him to stay away. "You have your own guest. Stick with her."

"Sure. Hi, Ludwig!" Junior waved.

"Black was right behind me, so he'll be up shortly." Ludwig waved back and headed straight upstairs as if the score in his folder compelled him. He waited for Bowser to join him in what used to be his bedroom and closed the door.

Putting the music down on the piano, he whispered as he signed, "I want you to be the first to hear this, dad."

"You honor me," Bowser signed back, gesturing at the piano. "Take it away, son!"

Ludwig fussed over arranging his music, adjusting the piano bench positioning and getting the light just so.

The song's title was Interstellar, but he hadn't crossed the T.

He handed Bowser his pen. Out loud, he said, "I want you to cross the T and dot the notes on the final chord."

"Why me?"

"Because…" Ludwig switched to signing, "You didn't tell me to quit music. You're the reason I can say things that go beyond words." He touched his fingers to his mouth and moved his hand outward, "Thank you."

A lump welled in the back of Bowser's throat. For a moment the Koopa before him was a tiny blue-haired kid poking at the keys with stubby little fingers. Then he blinked and he saw his oldest son all grown up. Where did that time go?

Taking the pen in his left hand, he crossed the T and dotted the last chord next to the double line on the staff. He skimmed the score with his eyes and knew, already, how beautiful it would sound.

"Ready?" Ludwig signed.

Bowser nodded, sinking to sit on the stool where he played his cello.

Ludwig transformed the piano into a thing of exquisite wonder. The music he created sounded like time passing, days ending and stars exploding. From tenebrous low notes to diaphanous soaring high notes and rolling forward into bottomless hope. A song born out of the depths of his soul, climbing out of his mind like a nascent vine.

He leaned over the keys with his eyes closed, his brow knitted and face pinched in concentration as his fingertips hung universes across a canvas of silence.

Bowser placed his hand on the side of the piano, letting the vibrations resonate through his arm. That was how Ludwig experienced music. The sound, what little of it his hearing aids let him hear, was secondary.

He watched Ludwig's clawed fingers flash across the black and white keys, creating beauty. His mind traveled backwards in time to a baby Koopa sitting on his lap while exploring the keys.

Tears stung in Bowser's eyes.

Ludwig's music exuded those halcyon days.

Their eyes met as he laid down the final chord. They shed a tear at the same time, but they were smiling.

"I'm proud of you," Bowser signed. "That was beautiful."

Ludwig stood up and hugged him. They hadn't embraced in a long time.

"Dad," he whispered.

Bowser cupped the back of his head, holding him close. "Nobody can make the music you make."

"You taught me how," Ludwig said.

"Give it to the world. Don't keep this hidden away on a shelf."

"I'm already halfway through writing it as a symphony. This is just the beginning. But I wanted you to— no— I needed you to hear this before anybody else."

Bowser grinned, nuzzling their cheeks together. Ludwig wasn't quite as tall as him, but the difference was barely five inches.

"Anything you write is magic, Ludwig."

Ludwig collected himself and stepped back. He smiled sheepishly, signing, "Will you come to the symphony when it's ready?"

"Absolutely! I wouldn't miss it!" Bowser replied with flair.

"Wonderful. Now…" Ludwig's eyebrows tilted slyly. His fingers flicked to form the question, "What do you intend for Princess Cherry and Junior?"

"Oh, heh!" Bowser checked the door and signed the answer close to his chest, "A future."

"Go on." Ludwig gestured.

Bowser beckoned him to follow. He headed downstairs and peeked into the living room to find Black entertaining the kids.

"You won't get upset?" Cherry gasped, her eyes shifting between Black and Junior. "But I never met a deaf person before, and I don't know how to sign. What if I ask something stupid?"

Junior interpreted what she asked in Koopa Sign and voiced Black's signed responses.

"There are no stupid questions because you're asking to learn. Ask me your silly questions! Nothing is off limits."

Junior held up a hand. "Wait! There's a rule for this! Um, uhh— I'm going to translate what he signs out loud and sign what you say, but you're supposed to look at him since he's the one you're talking to."

She met his eyes, one eyebrow raised. "That's going to feel weird."

"It gets pretty normal after a few minutes, and it's good practice for me." Junior rubbed his nose. "Koopa Sign follows different rules than talking does, so I have to put it in order in my head. Don't freak out if I take a minute to translate."

To Black, he signed, "I told her the 'terp rules."

Black gave him a thumbs up. He knelt to Cherry's level, curled his index finger like a hook— a question mark— and pulled it towards himself. His eyes were full of mischief.

"Ask me stuff." Junior voiced it.

Cherry held onto the towel still wrapped around her shoulders. Her hair had mostly dried off. She took her braids down on the trip over, so her dark locks hung loose in messy, wavy clumps.

"I saw you dancing around at Junior's birthday. How did you do that if you didn't hear the music?"

Black smiled as his hands flickered into motion— he signed slower than usual so Junior could keep up and translate.

"I felt the vibrations from the bass. Did you feel it?"

"Yeah!" She nodded and pointed to her chest, "Here."

"Me, too! I feel a lot of sounds as vibrations. Ludwig took me to meet an orchestra recently, and they let me touch their instruments while they played them. They felt so different! I enjoyed it very much. My favorite is the big timpani drums, they shake your bones!"

Black patted his chest and wiggled his hand to imitate the vibrations. He made the hook finger gesture again.

Bowser looked at Ludwig, a brow raised.

"That was our most recent date," Ludwig signed, eyes soft. "I'm already scouting out potential musicians. He got curious. They obliged."

He took out his phone and showed Bowser a photo of Black sitting on the floor with his hands cupping the sides of a cello while the Hammer Brother cellist drew the bow across the strings. His eyes were closed and his head tilted back, his face relaxed in contentment.

Ludwig swiped to a short video of cymbals crashing three times behind Black without him reacting once. Afterward, he slowly turned around to look while the phone shook from Ludwig laughing.

Back in the living room, Cherry pointed at her ear and lips. "Are you mute? I mean, um, sorry— can you make any sounds with your voice at all?"

Black scrunched his nose and jiggled his fist up and down. Amusement gleamed in his eyes.

"Yes, my voice works. My brother says I have a 'manly deep radio voice'."

He pointed to his mouth, shaped it in an almost exaggerated way and his low, chesty voice muffled in the back of his throat as he pronounced three syllables.

Bowser recognized it as hello, friend because he heard Black speak before and knew how to decipher his deaf accent. Ludwig sounded similar when he first began speech therapy.

Cherry raised her eyebrows. "You do! But I didn't understand what you said, sorry."

Black started to sign, swiped his hands through the air and changed it to something else instead.

"It's okay that you didn't! Hearing people say my deaf accent is very thick. That's why I don't talk a lot. I sound like I'm eating rocks."

He mimicked chewing and wiping his mouth, which got her to smile.

"Speaking is a complex thing. You don't think of it as hard because you learn how to do it before you can remember learning it. I didn't learn how to do that. I know how to say some words, but I have to concentrate and think about it."

Junior struggled to keep up, so Black held that last sign until he finished voicing.

"Some deaf people learn to speak clearly. My dad is good at talking and most people understand him. He taught my hearing brother, Jack, how to talk. Ludwig talks because his hearing aids help him hear speech and he had speech therapy, but he speaks with a deaf accent too."

Black moved his fingers open and shut like a talking mouth. He waited on that sign, giving Junior time to catch up.

"I'm deaf from the egg, and most of my family is deaf from the egg, too. My ancestors were deaf from the egg. Deafness is all over my family line, so it doesn't matter that I never heard because my parents already knew how to communicate with me in Koopa Sign. I'm not good at mouth-speaking and I don't feel like I need it. My hands and my face are my communication tools."

He looked at Junior and raised his eyebrows, "Am I talking too fast?"

Junior made a pinching motion and shook his head. "Perfect speed, I'm keeping up now."

Cherry waved her hands excitedly in the air. "Oh! I get it! Aha! Your expression acts like the tone of voice, doesn't it?"

"Ack!" Junior had to hurry up and sign what she said.

Black tilted his head while Junior interpreted. He widened his eyes, matching Cherry's excited energy with his hand movements.

"Yes! And also the way I sign acts like tone, too."

"But how do you know when somebody is signing you a question?"

"Because the who, what, where, when, why and how questions are like this." Black pointed to his face and furrowed his brow to demonstrate. "Who are you? What is your name? Where are we going? When does it start? Why did that happen? How did you do that?"

Junior did fantastic at translating— the signs for the w and h questions came at the end, not the beginning like someone speaking would ask it— and Bowser remembered struggling with that for months. Junior picked it up like second nature.

"Yes or no questions are like this." Black raised his eyebrows to demonstrate again. "Do you like sandwiches? Is it time to go to sleep? Are you ready? Can you help me? Will it hurt? Does this thing work? Was that you?"

"Ohh! Cool!" She clasped her hands together and bounced on her heels. Adorably, she lifted her eyebrows while asking her next question. "Can you be sarcastic in Koopa Sign?"

Junior giggled and repeated it for Black.

Black exhaled heavily, rolled his eyes and signed in wide, dramatic flicks of his fingers, "No, never, no sarcasm, we always mean exactly what we say all the time, forever!"

Junior, of course, conveyed that tone when he spoke it.

Black winked at Cherry and poked his tongue out of the corner of his mouth.

She laughed, wiping her hair back over her ears. "Gosh, opera singers have to look so funny to you."

He clasped his hands, gazed soulfully upward and opened his mouth wide like a soprano hitting a high note. His impression was spot on hilarious.

Black waved to get Junior's attention, yet stayed focused on Cherry while he signed, "I have a question for you as a hearie."

Cherry almost looked over at Junior. She remembered the etiquette at the last second and kept her attention on Black. "What's the question?"

He furrowed his brow, fingers flicking.

"How do you recognize people without seeing them? People say voices sound different, but I have trouble understanding how that works."

"Whoa." She exchanged curious glances with Junior. "Wow, I never had somebody ask that."

Cherry nibbled on her thumbnail and stared at her feet. Suddenly, she hopped up with her finger raised. "Aha!"

Black leaned in, his expression bleeding curiosity.

She pointed to her face. "You recognize people by their faces, right?"

He nodded after Junior interpreted.

"Voices are like faces. They're different from each other. Once you match a voice to a face and a name, they stick together in your brain!"

Black looked upward, cupped a hand over his mouth and wiggled his finger. He chuckled, scrunching his nose.

"So if you close your eyes and I make a sound, you'll know it was me who did it?"

"Yup!" She nodded enthusiastically.

Black's eyes widened and he moved his hand in a dramatic swishing motion.

"Wow. Amazing!"

He loved asking kids that question, and it never failed to make them feel smart and important.

Cherry sobered, her expression turning serious. She twirled a strand of hair around her fingertip and gazed up at Black, eyes sincere.

"Hey, um…do you remember when you picked me up and took me to Junior a couple years ago?"

Junior interpreted her question, and Black nodded.

Her face flushed redder. "I called you names because I didn't know you're deaf. I'm glad you didn't hear me, because I said mean things. I feel bad about it now. I'm sorry."

Black patted her head and signed very small and close to her, like whispering.

"It's okay. We do silly things when we get mad sometimes. I'm sorry if I scared you. Let's call it even."

Cherry nodded vigorously and held out her arms. "Can I give you a hug?"

Black didn't need Junior to sign that question for him. His expression softened. He stretched out his hands towards her and they hugged each other.

"Oof! Your muscles are so big! You must be a pro-wrestler!"

Junior signed what she said, chortling.

Black laughed, signing back, "I'm an airship field medic if King Bowser needs some when he flies, and a paramedic in the city the rest of the time. I work out to be big and strong so I can help people."

His arms were noticeably muscular at rest, but their true majesty revealed itself when he flexed.

"There he goes, look what she started." Ludwig signed with a playful chuckle.

Bowser elbowed him lightly in the side.

"Whoa!" Cherry tried to flex her biceps, too. Her tiny arms were toothpicks. Junior bent his arm and his bicep popped up a little more, the usual tight musculature of a Koopa child.

Black straight up giggled, pinching her bicep with his thumb and forefinger. He did the same thing to Junior.

"Can you pick Bowser up?" She asked, clapping her hands.

Junior stifled laughter as he interpreted that.

Black's jaw dropped. He covered his mouth, grimaced and signed quickly, "Yes, but I don't want to disrespect my king with a demonstration! Do not forget that he is very strong, too, he can throw me!"

Bowser almost snorted out loud. Ludwig nudged past him into the living room and announced himself by clearing his throat.

"He picks me up all the time, so I'll volunteer." He signed while he spoke. "He likes to show off."

Junior almost jumped out of his skin. "Ludwig!"

Cherry snickered at him. In his ear, she whispered, "Wow, he does have an accent when he talks."

"Black said so."

She blushed again. "Yeah, but…now I know why he sounds like that. I thought it was a lisp from his tooth."

"Heh, don't worry, almost everybody who doesn't know him thinks that."

Ludwig offered Cherry a polite bow. She curtseyed back. Black's eyes lit up when he approached.

"Go on," Ludwig nudged him. He signed at full speed, so a casual observer would only see flashes of movement. "Lift me. Shock them."

Black knelt and effortlessly hefted him over his head like a pro wrestler about to do a body slam. He was a head shorter than Ludwig because of his stocky limbs, so he looked hilarious holding him aloft like a trophy.

"Look at his legs!" Cherry whispered, pointing to Black's thighs and calves. They bulged like his arms.

Black grinned, tilting his head and waggling his eyebrows.

Ludwig crossed his arms and submitted himself to being used as a weight by his buff boyfriend. "I weigh five hundred and fifty pounds. He can hold me up here all day if he wants to. Watch this."

He retracted into his spiked shell. Black shifted him over to one arm and pretended to yawn against his free hand like it was no effort to him. The muscles in that arm looked ready to burst through his scales, his veins standing out in sharp relief.

"Dang!" Cherry's eyes widened.

Bowser laughed and leaned on the doorframe with his arms crossed. He could deadlift and throw everybody in this room simultaneously if he wanted to, but he decided to let Black enjoy the spotlight.

Black set Ludwig down, waited for him to pop back out of his shell and gazed up at him like he hung the stars in the sky.

Ludwig's eyes softened and smoldered.

"Are you trying to turn me on?" He arched his eyebrows as he signed close to his chest.

"Yes. Did it work?" Black replied, his smirk turning salacious.

Ludwig inclined his head and ran his tongue across his sharp buck tooth. A subtle response the kids wouldn't pick up on.

"Will Jack be home tonight?" He gestured in a few flicks.

Black caressed Ludwig's fingers and shook his head, never breaking eye contact. He let go of his hands long enough to respond, "He has the night shift. He won't be in tonight."

"Later, then." Ludwig lifted his head and vented smoke from his nostrils. With one hand, he signed, "You, me, shower."

Nodding, Black licked his chops and gestured near his mouth with a cupped hand.

Ludwig turned enough to block the kids' view with his shoulder, extended two fingers and brought his hands together while giving him a look that would burn a kingdom down.

Black mirrored the look with one of his own. He made wiping motions near his neck and passed a curved finger next to his mouth.

In response, Ludwig dramatically wiggled his fist up and down in the affirmative.

They talked dirty, yet they smiled so innocently at each other after.

Bowser pretended he didn't see it and glanced over at the kids to make sure they weren't clueing in.

"Now they're being all lovey dovey," Junior scoffed, oblivious to the electricity in their conversation. He smirked and turned away, pretending to pout.

"They sign real fast when they talk to each other." Cherry said. "Can you follow it?"

"A little," Junior said, shrugging. "They're using signs I don't know the translation for. The only part I got is they're talking about a shower."

Bowser decided to make his presence known. "Their hands are doing what our mouths do. Black signed slower during your chat to help Junior translate."

Cherry jumped up and ran towards him while Junior focused on Ludwig and Black.

"You learned Koopa Sign just for Ludwig?"

"Mmhmm." Bowser peered down at her, signing while he spoke. "I found a deaf teacher, who taught me the basics and threw me into the college classes he taught. The best way to learn Koopa Sign is immersion, and those college kids were excited to teach their king how to talk! I took classes there for four years and learned a lot of deaf history."

He went on, gesturing, "All my kids grew up seeing Ludwig and I sign, so they picked it up that way. It's as normal to them as talking."

"It kind of feels like a secret code." Cherry looked down to pick at her fingernails. "So you're fluent?"

"Pretty much, yup."

"Then you can help me," She climbed him like a tree to whisper in his ear, "How do you sign that you think somebody is cute?"

He chuckled, wiping two fingers downward in front of his chin. "Point to whoever you're calling cute and do this."

"This?" She did it too close to her nose.

"Not like that!" Bowser mimicked what she signed, "This says someone is funny. Cute is by your chin."

"Got it. Thanks!"

Cherry hurried to Black and tapped on his elbow until he looked down. She pointed to Junior while his back was turned and signed, "cute." Then she held her finger over her lips as if to shush him.

Black let out his wheezy laughter and nudged her playfully. Junior asked him what was so funny, and he flicked the index finger of his right hand off two fingers of his left hand, like a train leaving the station.

"Aw, come on!" Junior signed in big, sweeping motions, "What'd she say?"

Cherry giggled, plugging her nose and pointing at him. "I asked if you're stinky."

"Seriously?" Junior huffed.

Ludwig provided interpretation, which caused Black's face to twist like he chewed a rock.

Cherry doubled over, guffawing.

"I'm not stinky! You're stinky! You eat farts! Fart eater!" Junior signed at Black, who covered his face and wheezed louder.

Ludwig looked over his shoulder at Bowser with a raised eyebrow. He finger spelled Vs with both hands, curled his extended fingers and pulled them apart. The vee-vee sign had a lot of meanings depending on context, but in that case it indicated he saw and understood.

Bowser gave the faintest nod. He crossed his arms as he watched Black and the kids laugh together.

His plan would require an enormous sacrifice on his part, but it was worth it for Junior's future.

.o

.o